Post-secondary school students in the Grand River watershed interested in improving the environment are eligible for a new scholarship offered by the Grand River Conservation Foundation.
The $2,000 McEwen Clean Water Prize is available to students pursuing a career in an environmental field. It’s open to students registered at the Guelph, Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier (Waterloo and Brantford) and Nipissing (Brantford) Universities, as well as Conestoga and Mohawk (Brantford) Colleges. Students must be in second, third, or fourth year or a graduate program in fields such as environmental science, engineering, emerging technologies, governance, or education. Preference will be given to students who have attended programs at Grand River Conservation Authority nature centres.
The prize is named after the donor, Murray McEwen, a businessman living close to the Eramosa River near Ospringe, in the Town of Erin. He worked with the Grand River Conservation Foundation to create the scholarship because of his life-long interest in water issues.
“As I toured different parts of the world and the north of Canada, I saw a lot of water problems that were holding communities back from reaching their potential,” he said. “Some good work can be done to help people solve water problems, around the world and in our watershed.”
McEwen was the North American managing director of a company that produced sugar, starch, and other products from corn. As part of that job, he could see differences in prosperity between farmers with secure access to water and those without.
The McEwen Clean Water Prize will be awarded by the foundation each summer. For more information about the prize, contact Donna Hartley at the GRCF at dhartley@grandriver.ca or at 519-621-2763, extension 2372.
