How to apply for the 2009 Scholarships

The Pennsylvania Chapter will offer two $1,000 scholarship in 2009.

Applications must include:

1) A letter of application indicating the student’s academic record.

• 2) Two letters of support: one academic and the other from a community group in which the applicant has done volunteer work.

• 3) A 300-word essay on how the student intends to use their education to protect the environment.
  

• Applications must be submitted by June 30 and sent via email to: pennsylvania.chapter @sierraclub.org 

• Please place the word “Scholarship” in the subject line.
  

First Wyona Coleman scholarship awarded

Courtesy Amanda Boccuti

Amanda Boccuti of Langhorne, PA has won the first scholarship awarded in memory of Wyona Coleman. Coleman, who died in 2006, was instrumental in founding the PA Chapter and her work led to the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, which was passed in 1977. The Chapter established the Scholarship Fund in Coleman’s memory and offers $1,000 scholarships to students of environmental studies.

“Amanda Boccuti is the perfect choice for this scholarship because she shares many of the same interests and aspirations as Wyona did,” said Phil Coleman, Wyona Coleman’s husband and chair of the scholarship committee. “If Wyona had known Amanda, she would have taken her under her wing and mentored her. This scholarship is a way to do that.”

Ms. Boccuti, who double majors in English and Environmental Social Science at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, VA, wrote “This field attracts me because it emphasizes the importance of environmental awareness in every aspect of life, working to find solutions to the social, economic and political problems. I hope to better my community by sharing my appreciation for the environment.”

While a student at Neshaminy High School, Boccuti worked on the Invisible Children campaign, which documented the plight of the children in Darfur; raised money for UNICEF; and helped send students to the Model United Nations in New York City. As a member of the Environmental Club, she also encouraged other students to recycle and go green.

Although she is still an undergraduate, Boccuti is already researching partnership programs between the Peace Corps and graduate schools that would allow her to complete her environmental policy course work while serving in the corps where she could use her environmental education to improve people’s lives.

The annual scholarship program is open to all Pennsylvania residents who are seniors in high school or above and accepted or enrolled into any college-level program in environmental studies.