In a program begun this year, The Woodlands G.R.E.E.N. (TWG) awarded 3 scholarships to graduating seniors at The Woodlands Earth Day Festival on April 8. According to scholarship coordinator Debra Wymore, "These applicants demonstrated and outstanding commitment to preserving our natural environment through their extra curricular activities."

Three $1000 scholarships were awarded this year but the plan is to expand the program and participation in the GREEN Student Ambassador will be worth additional points on the application in future years. Because the student program is so new it was not counted as heavily, however students did need to demonstrate an environmental commitment both in the activities they were involved in and in the essay they wrote.

Ian Brown’s family has been involved in the GREEN since he was very young. He participated in litter pick-ups, Christmas tree recycling and the annual Earth Day Festival Ian became particularly inspired of the need to preserve the natural environment while on a backpacking trip with the Boy Scouts in the picturesque mountains of New Mexico. He earned his Eagle Scout rank by building hammocks for orangutans at the Houston Zoo. He incorporated conservation by using recycled fire hoses as the material for the hammocks. He will be attending McGill University.

Jamie Sammis’ family has also been active in the GREEN for many years. Jamie has put in over 200 hours of volunteer time on TWG activities in the last couple of years, including event recycling (which she wrote a Dragon Circle article about), crayon recycling, Adopt-A-Path, Earth Day and Earth Day prep activities. She was named Volunteer of the Year by the Recycling Alliance of Texas after TWG nominated her last year. She will be attending Rice University this fall.

Nahomi Merida was a charter member of the Ecology Club at The Woodlands High School. She put in time on Adopt-A-Path, the Earth Day festival, computer recycling, the on campus paper recycling and the Nature Lecture series which The Woodlands GREEN co-sponsors. These activities inspired her to participate in the beach clean-up at Galveston. She hopes to continue to be involved in environmental projects and will be attending Texas A&M in the fall.

Photo caption: Pictured left to right: Rich Haut (President TWG), Ian Brown, Naomi Merida, Jamie Sammis, Debra Wymore (Secretary TWG)