Announcing CVSan’s High School Scholarship Winners

Castro Valley Sanitary District (CVSan) is pleased to announce that Chelsea Chan and Alayna Chinn are the winners of the fiscal year 2018/19 CVSan Environmental Leader in Waste Reduction Scholarship. Chan and Chinn will each receive a $1,000 cash scholarship.

Both winners received a certificate of recognition at CVSan’s Board of Directors meeting June 4, 2019. Chan demonstrated her environmental leadership by serving as Co-President of the Smart Environment Club at Castro Valley High School, participating in educating students about recycling, organics, and reducing waste, as well as organizing recycling and organics containers around campus and coordinating Earth Day Clean-up efforts for the CVHS Garden. Chan’s scholarship essay described what environmental stewardship means to her:

Environmental stewardship, to me, means recognizing and prioritizing this precious relationship we have with our caretaker, the Earth, and taking everyday action to defend her rights. It means realizing the great power we each have as individuals to create the change we wish to see in the world. Whether this be taking a few extra seconds to sort your waste, taking public transportation to work instead of driving, or planting a seed; every action, no matter how minute or unimpactful it may seem, has a lasting effect on our planet.

Chinn demonstrated her environmental leadership by creating, Reconnect Inc., a 501©3 non-profit organization that refurbishes and donates computers for students without one at home. Chinn created this club while in middle school and again as a non-profit when she attended Castro Valley High School. While at Canyon Middle School, Chinn also was part of the group of students that started the food scrap recycling program at Canyon and helped improve waste diversion. Given that Chinn believes that “it is now more important than ever for people to step up to become environmental stewards” Chinn’s scholarship essay explains what she believes an environmental steward should do now:

At a minimum: reduce, reuse, recycle, and rot on a personal level, in our homes, schools and businesses. We must challenge our friends and families to join us in our efforts. But that can’t be all. We can make choices for greener homes, greener cars, and ultimately, greener lives.

This is the sixth year CVSan has offered the scholarship to high school seniors. The scholarship is a way to recognize those students who are taking action and encouraging environmental awareness through waste reduction within their school and community.