Annual Leighton & Betty Brown Conservation Scholarships Presented

Scholarships help watershed students pursue post-secondary conservation education.

A presentation ceremony held at the Lee Brown Marsh on Tuesday, August 16 celebrated the selection of recent high school grads Ali Flinsenberg and Fred Wernaart as recipients of the 2022 Leighton & Betty Brown Conservation Scholarship. The Lee Brown Marsh Management Committee, a committee of Long Point Region Conservation Authority, awarded each recipient with $1,000 to help support the post-secondary environmental education they will begin this fall.

The recipients applied for the annual scholarship and were selected due to their established interest in environmental conservation, their upcoming education and their career aspirations.

Ali, an East Elgin Secondary School graduate, has volunteered and worked closely with environmental organizations including ReForest London and various Conservation Authorities. She will be attending Trent University’s new Climate Science and Policy program come the fall and hopes to find a career as a conservation officer. Fred, a Holy Trinity Catholic Secondary School graduate, is a member and supporter of several naturalist organizations and associations and has been banding birds since childhood. He will be attending the Fish and Wildlife course at Sir Sandford Fleming College and plans to pursue a career in wildlife conservation.

Presenting the award, Marsh Management Committee chair Tom Haskett congratulated both recipients on their hard work and thanked them for their passion for conservation. “We are proud to help contribute to funding your education,” he said. “It is a joy to see individuals such as yourselves invested in the important work that is the conservation of our environment.”

Image: Lee Brown Marsh Management Committee chair Tom Haskett (right) shakes the hand of Leighton & Betty Brown Conservation Scholarship winner Fred Wernaart. [Tuesday, August 16, 2022].

About the Leighton & Betty Brown Conservation Scholarship

The Leighton & Betty Brown Conservation Scholarship is presented annually by the Lee Brown Marsh Management Committee and Long Point Region Conservation Authority to students in the Long Point Region watershed who are graduating from high school and pursuing a degree in an environmental or natural resources field at a post-secondary level. The scholarship was established to honour the former Marsh Manager, Leighton, and his wife Betty and their many years of service at the Marsh. Find more information online at lprca.on.ca/scholarship/