Zone X Scholarships
Robin Schachat
Last month we were thrilled to hear from Leslie Marting that nine Grosscup Scholarships were awarded this year to students from Cleveland State, Ohio State, Ball State, Michigan State, Purdue, and the University of Michigan. Katherine Grosscup was a member of our club, and these scholarships are awarded in Ohio and surrounding states annually in her honor.
In addition, students from Zone X (Ohio, Michigan and Indiana) were awarded the following five national GCA Scholarships.
• The Joan K. Hunt and Rachel M. Hunt Summer Scholarship in Field Botany, to Riley J. Rees of Ohio University. Rees will study the evolutionary history of petal development, using DNA sequencing.
• The GCA Award in Coastal Wetland Studies, to Taylor Michael of Kent State University. Michael will study the effect of waterfowl on nitrogen and phosphorus in the Great Lakes.
• The GCA Fellowship in Conservation Horticulture, to Lydia Jahn of Case Western University. Jahn will study long-term effects of forest management on conservation practices and restoration outcomes at the Holden Arboretum.
• The Clara Carter Higgins Summer Environmental Studies Scholarship, to Jacklyn Alsbro of Michigan State University. Alsbro will study natural resource policy as a Demmers Scholar at Michigan State and as a Policy Intern with Trout Unlimited.
• The Elizabeth Gardner Norweb Environmental Studies Scholarship, to Eve Colman of Denison University. Coleman will be doing research into natural resource management in Bhutan.
From these descriptions, you can tell that qualified research covers a vast variety of important horticultural and conservation fields. In fact, The Garden Club of America awards over a third of a million dollars annually in research scholarships, from undergraduate summer study programs all the way up to the Rome Prize Fellowship in Landscape Architecture. Descriptions of the various awards can be found at the GCA website. If you know of students who might be interested, please do encourage them to review this list.
If you know of either academic institutions or professors or research leaders within Zone X who might be interested in sponsoring a student, please do send me their information at robinschachat@gmail.com, and feel free to put them in touch with me directly also. The Scholarship Committee is always looking for exciting new possibilities for research studies and institutions to add to our family. Thank you!