Scholarship
Garden Club of America Katharine M. Grosscup Scholarships in Horticulture
by Leslie Marting
Purpose: To encourage the study of horticulture and related fields.
History: Katharine MacConnell Grosscup was a member of the Shaker Lakes Garden Club, Zone X. The Scholarship was created in 1981, in memory of Mrs. Grosscup, by her friend, Elizabeth Evans Berdan, a member of the Garden Club of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The first chairman of the committee was Mrs. Berdan’s sister-in-law, Elizabeth Whitney Evans, a member of the Garden Club of Cleveland. Applicants to the Scholarship must be rising college sophomores, juniors, seniors or Master’s degree candidates majoring in horticulture or related fields at institutions in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania or West Virginia.
The Grosscup committee is comprised of three members of the Shaker Lakes Garden Club, and three members of the Garden Club of Cleveland. All applicants are screened, interviewed and selected by the Grosscup committee in Cleveland each February, and approved by the GCA Scholarship Committee. Formerly under the aegis of the Horticulture Committee (the GCA Scholarship Committee was founded in 1989) the Katharine M. Grosscup Scholarships in Horticulture have awarded 234 scholarships since 1982.
Provisions: Awards up to $3,500 are paid directly to recipients in support of their education and research.
The Grosscup Scholarship supports young scholars from our region in their pursuit of an education in horticulture and its related fields. The Grosscup is the only GCA scholarship that requires a personal interview. Click here to read about this year’s special group of committed students!
This Year’s Winners
(Click on the links to read each bio)
Founders Fund
The Founders Fund Award, established in 1934, was created by Mrs. Harold L. Pratt to honor the Garden Club of America’s twelve founding clubs and the memory of GCA’s first president, Mrs. J. Willis Martin, who served from 1913 to 1920.
Generously supported by gifts from clubs and individuals, the Founders Fund annually provides monetary awards to projects proposed by clubs in their local communities. The first award of $700 was given in 1936 for the publication in English of the Badianus Manuscript, one of the earliest know Aztec herbals. Current award winners receive $25,000 for projects that embody the Garden Club of America purpose – “to restore, improve, and protect the quality of the environment through educational programs and action in the fields of conservation and civic improvement.”
Together GCA members and fund winners have enriched multitudes and saved thousands of acres of land and innumerable trees. Historic landmarks are restored to past glory, civic plantings flourish in countless communities nationwide, and research and education projects benefit young and old.
Banner photo by Laurie Jacobs