Local student wins national environmental scholarship

August 19, 2010 – Vancouver local, Melissa Gerrard, is one of four outstanding students to be awarded with an ECO Canada Scholarship.

Every year ECO Canada awards four Canadian students with $2,500 towards their first-year tuition in an environmental program at a Canadian post-secondary institution. Scholarships are awarded to individuals who have shown leadership in her or his community in the areas of environmental protection, conservation and preservation of natural resources, or environmental sustainability.

Melissa Gerrard believes that knowledge through education is the basis for the preservation of our natural resources.  It is from this foundation that she has been an active contributor to all things in environmental education.

Melissa works at the FUN Society, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing youth in Vancouver with hands-on environmental education. As a FUN Links Coordinator, Melissa connects high school volunteers with environmental organizations.

At school, Melissa is an active member of her high school environmental club.  Through this club, Melissa led a project that installed five reverse osmosis machines and a composting at Kitsilano Secondary School —resulting in a reduction of plastic bottles and food waste.  Seeking to share her initiatives with others, Melissa represented her high school as a member of the network ECHO; a student-led group that aims to support students with their sustainability initiatives.

This fall Melissa will be studying at the University of Waterloo in the Environment and Resource Studies Program.  She looks forward to becoming involved in her new community and continuing her environmental journey.