Programs
Currently, we have three main environmental education programs:
1. Environmental Curriculum Development Grants:
This is our main program in which we provide one to two $1500 grants. They are intended to assist educators in the design and implementation of holistic environmental curricula that fit our Mission Statement. They are open to anyone, but we give preference to grants that benefit public school students, a policy based on Melinda's commitment to public school education. We provide grants of $1500 to educators to develop or implement environmental curricula. We prefer to support the actual development of a curriculum rather than provide funds to purchase equipment. All funds pass through the school district or nonprofit organization rather than directly to the individual recipients. Generally, the applicants determine how much time is needed to do the work and indicate this in the proposal. In some cases, we have provided funds to purchase equipment to allow teachers to implement a completed curriculum. In all these cases, the teacher(s) were the authors of the curricula.
For more information on grant guidelines and past recipients.
2. Field Experiences for School Students:
This program is intended to provide outdoor natural history and science experiences for young students. We send students from Newark, NY (where Melinda was a teacher) and Clarence, NY (Melinda’s home town) and Buffalo, NY. Currently, we send students to two programs!
Adirondack Field Studies: This is a week-long field study program run by the Onondaga-Cortland-Madison BOCES that expose high-school students to biology and natural history of the Adirondacks. It takes place at the Cranberry Lake Biological Station, part of SUNY-ESF. We sincerely thank OCM-BOCES and Robin Kimmerer of SUNY-ESF for allowing us to participate in the program.
NY Department of Environmental Conservation Environmental Education Camps: This a residential camp program for middle school students. It isn't quite the science experience we would like, but the settings are tremendous and the feedback from the participants has been positive.
3. SUNY-ESF Environmental Interpretation Scholarship:
We give a scholarship of $500-1000 to a deserving student at the SUNY-College of Environmental Science and Forestry who is majoring in Environmental Interpretation and embodies Melinda's ideals of the importance of solid scientific, educational and interpretive skills. We are assisted in administering this scholarship by former Board member, D. Andrew Saunders.
Past Recipients:
1999 Katherine Hargreves
2000 Amy Louise Seidenwand
2001 Nathan Murray
2002 Katrine A Viscio
2003 Lindsay Cray
2006 John Fouskaris
2007 Lindsay Hahn
For more information see our programs, please see details and photos in our annual newsletters:
2014 Newsletter
2012 Newsletter
2011 Newsletter
2009 Newsletter
2008 Newsletter
2007 Newsletter
2005 Newsletter
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