May 11, 2015 2 min read

Thanks to a donation from Alpha Natural Resources, Greene County Conservation District is offering a full scholarship to the 2015 Conservation Leadership School, which will be held during two sessions this summer at Stone Valley Recreation Area in University Park.

Hosted by Penn State’s School of Forest Resources, conservation leadership school is a one-week residential program for high school students interested in learning more about the environment through exploration of natural habitats and hands-on educational and recreational activities.

This year’s session will focus on technology and its impact on the natural environment.

The winning student can choose which session to attend, either June 21-27 or July 5-11. Students will spend one week in an outdoor classroom exploring forests, fields, streams and lakes, and will have the opportunity to go canoeing, hiking, bird watching and fishing, among other recreational activities.

Subjects will include aquatic habitat enhancement, home water analysis, hunter-trapper education, team-building, green initiatives, recycling and composting. The regular cost is $525 for the week-long session.

The conservation district’s scholarship is open to all Greene County students ages 14-18 who completed at least their freshman year of high school and who are interested in the environment.

To apply for the scholarship, students must submit a typed essay of 500 to1,000 words in length. The essay should briefly detail the student’s background and explain why he or she would be the best recipient of the scholarship and how attending the conservation leadership school would benefit the student’s future plans.

All essays should include a name, address and phone number. The deadline for submitting essays is June 1.

Essays may be mailed to the Greene County Conservation District at 19 S. Washington St., Fort Jackson Building Suite 150, Waynesburg, PA 15370. Essays may also be faxed to 724-852-5341 or e-mailed to Jared Zinn at jzinn@co.greene.pa.us. The subject line should read “Conservation Leadership.”

For more information, call the conservation district at 724-852-5278.