Gretchen Hefner (left) and Silas Coleman (right) are among the nine students from across the state that received $5,000 scholarships from the Ohio EPA’s Environmental Education Fund.
Gretchen Hefner (left) and Silas Coleman (right) are among the nine students from across the state that received $5,000 scholarships from the Ohio EPA’s Environmental Education Fund.
A pair of Ohio University students have received $5,000 scholarships from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
Gretchen Hefner and Silas Coleman, both seniors at Ohio University, were among the nine students from across the state chosen to receive $5,000 scholarships from the Ohio EPA’s Environmental Education Fund. Applications for these scholarships are accepted yearly from Feb. 15 through April 15.
Anthony Chenault, public information officer at the Ohio EPA, said the agency began its scholarship program in 2000. The Environmental Education Fund is funded through one-half of the civil penalties collected from violations of Ohio’s air and water pollution control regulations. Chenault says the Ohio EPA gives out at least $45,000 in scholarships each year.
“These are merit based, nonrenewable scholarships for undergraduate students enrolled at an Ohio public or private college, university or community college,” Chenault explained. “Applicants [must] demonstrate their knowledge and commitment to careers in environmental science or environmental engineering.”
These scholarships are available to juniors and seniors who are studying environmental science and engineering at Ohio-based colleges and universities. Chenault said students who are entering their final year in a four or five-year degree program are eligible for the $5,000 scholarship, while those who are second-year students in a two-year degree program are eligible for $2,500 scholarships.
The paths Hefner and Coleman took in environmental science couldn’t have been more different. Coleman, who is majoring in Environmental Science and Sustainability, said his interest in environmental science came about because of his childhood fascination with nature and the outdoors. A precocious youth, Coleman would often ask his father science-related questions.
“He’d do his best to explain stuff to me, but I think I ended up being very curious and developing a lot of care for the outdoors and understanding our role in protecting it is just as important as the needs we’ll have as communities to rely on it for ecosystem services in the future,” Coleman said.
Hefner, a meteorology student, began her academic career studying nursing. Hefner’s mother was a pharmacist and Hefner said she was “dead set” on a career in medicine because it was “pretty much all [she] knew.” However, by her second semester, Hefner realized nursing wasn’t for her and began taking meteorology classes after a colleague of hers in ROTC suggested it.
“I started taking my first classes in it [and] I started to really excel. I felt like I was where I should be,” explained Hefner. “Growing up, you only know what your parents do. Sometimes, you don’t really have a lot of exposure to other career fields until college.”
Both Hefner and Coleman completed internships in their respective fields. Hefner received an internship at Eglin Air Force Base through the Air Force Research Lab Scholars Program, where she performed research in oceanography.
“I did research in oceanography actually, which I wasn’t expecting to do, but there’s actually a lot of overlap between meteorology and oceanography,” Hefner said. “It was a really cool experience, and I loved every second of it.”
Coleman completed internships at both the Ohio EPA and at a botanical garden in Massachusetts, which he said gave him experience in both environmental compliance and plant biology.
“I worked in the Division of Drinking and Groundwaters,” Coleman said. “I worked very closely with water treatment plant operators [and] I worked to author some technical documents that work towards making sure that these water treatment plants had contingency plans in the event of algal blooms.”
For the application process, students are expected to complete three essays and receive two letters of recommendation, along with attaching a two-page resume, vita or biosketch. For Hefner, the essay writing portion came naturally to her because of her strength as a writer, while Coleman found essay writing more challenging because of the need for succinct and thoughtful expression.
“Essays are always kind of a difficult thing. There’s a lot you want to say and you have to say it succinctly and you have to fit within the parameters they would like,” Coleman explained. “Essays are generally the things that require the most thought.”
Coleman found securing letters of recommendation to be the easiest part of the application process for him, while Hefner said relationship-building with her professors wasn’t something that necessarily came as naturally to her. However, Hefner’s application process was greatly aided by her close relationship with Ryan Fogt, professor of meteorology and director of the Scalia Laboratory for Atmospheric Analysis.
“The way [Fogt] interacts with students, it makes you feel very open to be able to talk to him,” said Hefner. “When you’re in lectures with, like, 500 students and one professor, you don’t always feel like you can create some kind of personal relationship with them, but Dr. Fogt has made me feel very comfortable to be able to come talk to him about anything.”
The most important piece of advice Coleman has for students who are thinking about applying for scholarships but are reluctant to do so because they are worried they won’t succeed is to recognize the value of the experiences they have accrued and to avoid comparing themselves to other students.
“I think it’s normal to kind of place a little doubt on yourself, but people often don’t understand your experience may be more valuable than you realize,” Coleman said. “Follow the application process to a T and give them as much information as you can. You never know [what’s going to happen].”
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