Scholarships
Photo by Michael Hilchey
For Students
The Ryan Beaulieu Memorial Education Fund
This is the fourth year CNMAS is able to accept applications for the Ryan Beaulieu Memorial Education Fund. The fund provides scholarships for youth between the ages of 13 and 20, or educators of youth, to attend a specific program, camp or course, pertaining to the candidate’s interest in the natural sciences.
For more information about applications, please contact Helen Haskell at helennm@yahoo.com or check back here for the application form and instructions. Applications are taken on an on-going basis but early applications are encouraged. The grant will be awarded by May 31st 2010.
Ryan Beaulieu was a young ornithologist, environmentalist and conservationist who filled his life with the joy of exploration and discovery of nature. This scholarship fund was established to give testimony to the living legacy of what Ryan gave to all of us as family, friends and community. CNMAS wishes to thank the Lannan Foundation for its generous support of the fund, as well as the family and friends of Ryan. Donations to the fund can be sent to the Central New Mexico Audubon Society; please write “Ryan Fund” on the “for” line. These donations are fully tax-deductable.
For Teachers
CNMAS Educator Resource Grant
The Educator Resource Grant is available to all educators in New Mexico. The grant is available for purchase of resources to the classroom/lessons that school or personal budgets do not cover. The supplies must be used for a natural history/science lesson(s), project or experience. This grant is open to all educators of students age 18 and under. At the end of the school year, grantees must supply CNMAS with a short report on that will be placed in the Burrowing Owl Newsletter for our members.
Amount available: up to $250
Application deadline: February 28th 2010 (for money awarded by late spring 2010).
Application process: Download and print out the application form and fill it out: CNMAS Educator Resource Grant Application 2009 (pdf)
Email or mail the application to: CNMAS, c/o Helen Haskell, PO Box 36741, Albuquerque, NM 87176, helennm@yahoo.com. Title the email ‘CNMAS Educator Resource Grant’.
Teacher Professional Development Opportunity
CNMAS wants to send a NM teacher to the Institute of Desert Ecology, April 15-18, 2010 in Catalina State Park, near Tucson, AZ. CNMAS will pay full tuition. You must provide your own transportation to the site (car, air) and camper/tent. As this workshop is partly during school time, please check with your principal before applying. Your school is responsible for providing substitutes and related costs. For more details please visit http://www.tucsonaudubon.org
Application process: Please send a one-page essay and cover letter detailing:
• How you will benefit from this opportunity
• How you will use the experience in your everyday teaching
• Details on where you teach, grade(s) taught, name of principal (if applicable) and two references.
Mail or email the application to: CNMAS, c/o Helen Haskell, PO Box 36741, Albuquerque, NM 87176 or
helennm@yahoo.com. Title the email ‘Institute of Desert Ecology’.
Science Fair Awards
Each year, the Central New Mexico Audubon Society recognizes science projects that show outstanding interest and skill in the environmental sciences. Two recent awardees demonstrate the variety and significance of the work now being undertaken by New Mexico’s young scientists:
2009 Winners:
Award winner Mercedes Reuel studied the use of light for water purification. In areas from the Middle East to our own backyard, clean water is becoming an endangered commodity because of soaring populations. Otherwise convenient water sources are often unusable because they are brackish. Reuel studied the use of a solar oven to speed up evaporation of brackish water and showed how the relatively clean water vapor could be recollected, providing an inexpensive potential source of fresh water.
Award winner Samantha Heimgartner investigated the cryogenic preservation of seeds. Seed preservation is an essential tool in the important effort to maintain genetic variation – an effort that could one day prevent a worldwide famine, and is immediately useful in halting the likely daily extinction of rare plant subspecies. Samantha demonstrated that seeds frozen in liquid nitrogen survived almost as well as a control group, and that by the second generation there was no difference in plant health between the progeny of the frozen seeds and those of the control group.