New Scholarships Help 10 Penn State Students To Dream Green

Developing new ideas to make our world more environmentally friendly will take creative imagination and out-of-the-box dreaming. Ten Penn State students have received financial support to pursue their "greenest" dreams with $5,000 scholarships from a professional football team and a pharmaceutical manufacturer.

The Teva Pharmaceuticals "Green Dream" Science Scholarship program is co-sponsored by the Philadelphia Eagles professional football team and Teva Pharmaceuticals U.S.A.

The scholarships reward students who have a passion for and interest in environmental improvement. Undergraduate students enrolled or planning to enroll in the Environmental Resource Management major in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences are eligible to apply.

This year's winning students participated in an awards ceremony on December 6 at Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field with Teva Pharmaceutical representatives. In addition to the scholarship, the students each received a pair of tickets to the Eagles vs. San Francisco 49ers home game on December 20.

To compete for the scholarships, students submitted papers addressing a national or global environmental issue. The papers described the community that the problem affects, offered a solution and proposed the resources that might be needed to make the dream a reality.

Representatives of Teva Pharmaceuticals, the Eagles and Penn State reviewed the submissions and selected the best environmental concepts among the entries.

Deborah Jaskot, Teva's vice president of regulatory affairs, said the sponsors considered several universities for the scholarships, but selecting Penn State was an "easy and clear choice." She said Teva and the Eagles created the scholarship program because the two companies share a commitment to environmental issues.

"Penn State has one of the most comprehensive environmental studies programs in the state," she said. "It also is one of the oldest programs in the country. The winning essays remind me of how fast-paced and dynamic this field is. We need young professionals with the passion these essays showed to carry it into the future. We can all have dreams of how to save the environment, but it will be those who can identify, propose, implement and maintain workable solutions that will ultimately save the day."

"The Philadelphia Eagles, with Teva as a sponsor, is one of the first pro sports teams to integrate environmentally sustainable practices into their business in a serious way," said Robert Shannon, associate professor of agricultural engineering and coordinator of the ERM program. "It’s a tribute to our students and the strength of the ERM program that they chose us to initiate their 'Green Dream' scholarship program, and many of the students will go on to realize their dreams in their future professions and have the opportunity to become leaders in the environmental field."

The winning students, with the titles of their papers:

-- Kathryn Clark, freshman from Camp Hill, Pa.: "Children and Nature: It’s More than Just Playing Outside;"

-- Cody Cogan, junior from Weedville, Pa.: "Soil Cultivation Practices of Agriculture;"

-- Rachel Hoh, freshman from Lititz, Pa.: "Urban Sprawl and Smart Growth Communities;"

-- Maria Mazzocchi, senior from Brockway, Pa.: "The Plastic Vortex: The Pacific Ocean Trash Plume;"

-- Melanie Moore, senior from Loganton, Pa.: "Using Moringa Oleifera to Reduce Water Pollution in Developing Countries;"

-- Brianna Richards, senior from Port Matilda, Pa.: "The Use of Riparian Buffer Greenways to Reduce the Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico;"

-- Laken Roberts, senior from Baltimore, Md.: "Climate Change and Infectious Disease;"

-- Jessica Shilladay, junior from Mechanicsburg, Pa.: "REAL Recycling-Green: The New Red, White and Blue;"

-- Austin Snyder, junior from Bethlehem, Pa.: "Urban Agriculture;" and

-- Jeremiah Zimmerman, senior from Mifflinburg, Pa.: "Solutions to Dead Zones."

For information on Penn State's Environmental Resource Management program, contact Tarrah Geszvain at 814-865-6942 or send email to: ERMmajor@psu.edu.