Eastside Audubon College Scholarship Recipients
Written by Mary Britton-Simmons
Annually, the Youth Education Committee awards college scholarships to two deserving high school seniors. This year the competition for the $2,000 scholarship was fierce. Fourteen outstanding students from Bothell, Kirkland, Redmond, Bellevue and Issaquah applied. They were leaders in their Green Teams, had internships at institutions like the Burke Museum, worked at local parks and founded environmental clubs at their schools—and those are just a few of their accomplishments. Reading their applications gave me hope for the future of our planet. These young people will make a difference in whatever field they choose and will continue to be stewards of the earth.
We score each applicant on a scale of 1-4 based on the following criteria:
· Involvement in environmental activities
· Relationship between college plans and the environment
· Academics reflecting the student’s interest in stewardship
In addition, we weigh the recommendation of someone familiar with the student’s stewardship commitment. The two young women chosen this year met and/or exceeded all criteria.
Nazli Dakad from Bellevue High School is interested in the public health implications of climate change and has been a Sustainability Ambassador for four years and is the president of Earth Club. Recently she was hired by the Port of Seattle to educate youth about green jobs in King County. In addition, in 2019 she interned at the Institute for Systems Biology where she studied an alga that can be used to produce biofuels. Her other accomplishments are too numerous to list; she stood out among the applicants. In the fall, she will attend Yale University to pursue Environmental Studies with a concentration on human health and the environment. “I plan to take classes in environmental science, economics, politics, and more so that I can gain a holistic understanding of how climate change will impact different systems and use that knowledge to devise solutions to justly transition to a sustainable society.”
Shreya Masina from Skyline High School in Issaquah won the second scholarship. She is lazar-focused on the health of our marine ecosystems and has been accepted at the University of Washington where she plans to pursue a degree in the Oceanography Department where she interned last summer. During her internship, she assisted research efforts to explore the correlation between human consumption and organic chemicals present in Puget Sound. At Skyline High School, Shreya founded the Marine Science Club and created a National Ocean Science Bowl team which placed fourth at the regional Orca Bowl competition. In addition, she organized workshops for the Youth Ocean Conservation Summit to teach local students about marine conservation and help them pilot a research program focusing on the biodiversity of Puget Sound. To her credit, she is interested in identifying “the environmental disparities that disproportionately impact the health of marginalized communities and help create solutions for these issues.”
Thanks to your generous donations, we can fund a small amount towards making these amazing young women’s goals become a reality. Thank you.