By MICHAEL BENAVIDES
Staff Writer
The Monmouth County Audubon Society (MCAS) will offer scholarships for Monmouth County high school students who are considering future careers in the field of conservation.
The MCAS will be sponsoring up to $3,000 in scholarships for the fall 2017 semester.
The Ted Engberg Wildlife Conservation Scholarship will be offered to this year’s Monmouth County high school graduates who will be continuing their education in a field related to conservation.
“Thanks to the generosity of our members,” said Harden Fowler, conservation chairman and creator of the program, “our organization will be sponsoring this annual scholarship for the foreseeable future.”
“We are very excited to be able to subsidize the education of future naturalists or conservationists,” Fowler said.
Dena Temple who is the publicity chairwoman and newsletter editor for the MCAS said that her organization has been offering the Ted Engberg Wildlife Conservation Scholarship for 12 years.
“This is our 12th year,” Temple said. “Since 2006, MCAS has awarded a total of 22 scholarships totaling $30,500 to incoming college freshmen majoring in the area of conservation.”
Temple also said that the reason the MCAS was offering the scholarship was to encourage students in Monmouth County to pursue a career in the field of conservation.
“An important part of our organization’s mission is ‘to promote the awareness, appreciation and conservation of natural resources through educational outreach.’ We offer these annual scholarships to encourage young people of Monmouth County to consider environmental and conservation fields when thinking about their future,” Temple said.
Temple said the MCAS Scholarship Committee is considering increasing the awards.
“We will award two, and possibly three, depending on the success of our fundraising efforts. Money for the program is generated by donations to our team in [the] New Jersey Audubon Society’s ‘World Series of Birding.’ This statewide competition pits competing teams of bird enthusiasts against one another to see who can find and identify the greatest number of bird species in a 24-hour period, within the state,” Temple said.
“The Monmouth Audubon team limits their search to Monmouth County only, to highlight the biodiversity of our area, and competes against other teams in the ‘limited geographic area’ category. The Monmouth team won their category twice, in 2004 and 2006. Last year the team identified 143 species in 24 hours, all within the boundaries of Monmouth County,” Temple said.
Temple said this year’s event will be held May 6. For more information on this event, go to www.worldseriesofbirding.org.
Students can obtain an application through their high school’s guidance office. The deadline for submitting applications is May 1. The MCAS Scholarship Committee will review the applications, make their decisions and award the scholarships on June 15.
Criteria require that applicants be Monmouth County residents.
For further information on the scholarships and applications, visit monmouthaudubon.org. Applications should be mailed to: MCAS, P.O. Box 542, Red Bank, NJ 07701.
The MCAS, a chapter of the National Audubon Society, is dedicated to the enjoyment and study of nature, wildlife conservation, habitat protection and education.
MCAS meetings are held the second Wednesday of each month September through May at the Knights of Columbus, 200 Fair Haven Rd., Fair Haven. Guest speakers address a wide variety of nature-related topics, and refreshments are provided.
In addition, the group sponsors at least one field trip per month, and members receive “The Osprey,” the club’s bi-monthly newsletter.