On March 4, the Sustainable Energy Education & Development Support (SEEDS) announced it is now accepting entries to the Burkhardt Sustainability Essay Scholarship Contest for college-bound high school seniors in Monroe and Pike counties.  Entries are due May 2.

The winning entrant will receive a $1,000 scholarship made in memory of Michael “Jake” Burkhardt, Western Wayne Class of 2015. Jake loved life, his family, his community and the environment and worked with SEEDS as a high school student.

Local high school seniors from Western Wayne High School, Honesdale High School, Wallenpaupack Area High School, Damascus Christian Academy, Canaan Christian Academy, as well as home-schooled seniors who reside within the areas covered by those high schools.

Essay Topic

Entries must address this year's topic--

Although there are different studies detailing small-business impacts of the pandemic across Pennsylvania, one thing is clear: the pandemic and the accompanying mitigation efforts had a significant and long-lasting financial impact on our small business community.

In order to prevent such severe impacts in the future, and to speed-up recovery from the current pandemic, small businesses and local towns must strengthen their resiliency to withstand future stay-at-home orders, supply scarcity, and rising energy costs.

For a restaurant it might mean creating a local food network by collaborating with small farmers in their community, investing in energy efficiency measures, and strengthening their online platform to stay connected with customers even with closings in place.

For local policymakers, it might mean investing in green spaces, green energy, and green jobs, all of which will attract more people to the area, and therefore create a larger customer base for their small businesses due to cleaner air, thoughtful infrastructure, and wooded parks. 

What would your strategy be to increase resiliency for Pennsylvania's small businesses across the board and to prepare them for the next emergency?

List three strategies, choosing from top-down (proactive policies by government officials), bottom/up (adaptive strategies at business level) or a mixed approach, and consider utilizing reports from Reimagine Appalachia, U.S. Small Business Administration, and PennFuture to compose your response.

Please be comprehensive and specific.

Click Here for all the details on making an entry.  Entries should be submitted by email to: scholarship@seedsgroup.net.

For more information on the programs, initiatives and upcoming events, visit the SEEDS (Sustainable Energy Education and Development Support) website, call 570-245-1256 or send email to info@seedsgroup.net.

[Posted: March 4, 2021]

3/8/2021