GCA Scholarships Awarded in Zone X for 2021!

The Garden Club of America awards over $300,000 in scholarships each year to students ranging from college programs to post-doctoral work, and in many different fields of specialization.

In the Shaker Lakes Garden Club, we have a magnificent history of having supported GCA Scholars, heavily weighted to those who have won the Katharine M. Grosscup Scholarship.  Mrs. Grosscup was a member of our club, and the scholarships endowed in her name actually precede the establishment of a national scholarship committee by the GCA.  They, unlike most GCA Scholarships, are awarded by a local committee that is currently led by our own Leslie Marting and is made up of members from Shaker Lakes and the Garden Club of Cleveland.  Grosscup Scholarships are funded in part by individual gifts from members of those two clubs and in part by GCA.  Our individual gifts are administered through the club’s Charitable Projects Committee annually, and members of the club are encouraged to support “our” Grosscup Scholarships.

Overall, the GCA awards offer 29 merit-based scholarships and fellowships in 12 areas related to conservation, ecology, horticulture, and pollinator research. In 2020, $306,000 was awarded to 64 scholars.  Last year, eleven awards were made to scholars from Zone X.  In addition, our club also promoted a winner of the Elizabeth Abernathy Hull Award, given to educators working with children under the age of 16, teaching them about horticulture and the environment.  SLGC had also proposed a winner of the Hull Award in 2019.  As of next year, the Hull will no longer fall under the Scholarship Committee.

For the 2021 season, Zone X accounts for twelve scholarship winners, half of whom are Grosscup Scholars.  

A new Scholarship was awarded for the first time this year, The Garden Club of America Fellowship in Conservation Horticulture.  It was established by Kathy Keller of the Akron Garden Club and her husband, David, to encourage the study of plant conservation principles and major threats to plant diversity.  Botanic Gardens Conservation International-US (BGCI-US) connects plant conservation information, best practices and interests across North America and the global botanic garden community. The Kellers envision that scholars will participate in one of the BGCI-US programs to broaden their knowledge and research in the field of conservation horticulture.  The SLGC played a significant role in supporting the winner of this new scholarship, Caleb Thomas Lumsden of Cleveland State University, who will advance his studies at Holden Forests and Gardens.

Congratulations to all of our winners from Zone X!

Click here for a list of 2021 GCA Scholars in Zone X.