Castro Valley High School Senior Received Scholarship From CVSan

Castro Valley Sanitary District (CVSan) is pleased to announce the winner of the 2014/15 CVSan Environmental Leader in Waste Reduction Scholarship: Laila Birznieks. Birznieks will receive a $500 cash scholarship.

She received a certificate of recognition at CVSan’s Board of Directors meeting June 2, 2015.

Birznieks demonstrated her environmental leadership by participating in environmental clubs at Castro Valley High School. She described the motivation to become an environmental leader in her essay:

To me, environmental stewardship is the individual responsibility a person should take to respect the earth. This includes having a personal desire to go out of your way, no matter how small the action is, to care for our world. My experience in being the president of the Smart Energy Club has taught me that passion spreads quickly with enthusiasm…In Smart Energy Club, we know that education creates passion so we make it a point to have weekly presentations on environmental issues to educate students about environmental issues and what they can do to help solve them.

This is the second year CVSan 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.

Photo caption: Award presentation at the June 2nd CVSan Board Meeting , from left to right: Dave Sadoff, CVSan Board President; Laila Birznieks, CVHS senior