Elmhurst Garden Club Scholarship Recipients

The Elmhurst Garden Club recently awarded more than $15,500 in scholarships to six Illinois college students who are pursuing a degree related to horticulture, landscape design, biology, botany, science education, conservation, or environmental studies.

This year’s scholars include Lauren Audi, a Northwestern University-Chicago Botanical Garden Masters candidate; Amanda Moss, College of Du Page; Lily Neppl, Purdue University; Charles Pozen, Elmhurst College; and University of Illinois-Champaign students Parrish Smith and Liangyua Ashley Yu. The club also awarded Andrew Bendelow, York Garden Club advisor, a stipend to attend a class to be certified in square foot gardening.

To qualify for this scholarship, named in honor of former member Mildred Hartney, the students must reside in the state, have a GPA of 3.0 or higher, and be entering their junior or senior year.

Since 1997, the Elmhurst Garden Club has given over $130,000 from the proceeds of the Garden Walk and Faire that is held the second Sunday in July.

Applicants are rated on the basis of their GPA, courses they have taken related to the club’s mission, relevant activities and volunteer work, their personal statement/letter, and their letters of recommendation.

An annual “Meet the Scholars” luncheon will be held on Monday, March 5, 2018, at which time the scholars will present a short program about their research, activities, and/or interests related to the environment.

As part of the application process, students indicated what their aspirations hope to be after they graduate:

“I plan to work for a landscape architecture firm that does large scale, commercial projects.”

“I hope to obtain a position at a botanic garden of a scientific institution…I am also interested in working as an ecologist in populated area in an effort to mediate human and wild interactions and restoration practices.

“I will teach science at a secondary level, emphasizing to students how they can change their lifestyles to become more ‘green.”

“I plan to work full time as a horticulturist at the Garfield Park Conservatory…Later, I would like to own and operate a small, organic vegetable farm for CSA members.”

“I plan on working on sustainable agriculture development projects.”

The Elmhurst Garden Club also offers an exploratory scholarship to York High School students interested in conservation, horticulture, agriculture, the environment, biology, and/or botany. The deadline for both the college and high school candidates is May 1 and the applications are available on the Club’s web site at elmhurstgardenclub.org