2022 MARC ZBOCH ACADEMIC SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENT

I’ve devoted my career to public service and helping others. I am pursuing my graduate degree in environmental policy because I believe everyone deserves access to a safe and clean environment, and upon completion I hope to be able to serve my community in more and different ways. The Marc Zboch Academic Scholarship will be a critical piece of the puzzle that allows me to continue to pursue my educational goals.

At the start of my professional career I joined AmeriCorps where I helped improve the environment in disadvantaged and low-income communities. Through my work I also had the opportunity to travel to Florida post-Hurricane Michael and assist in disaster relief efforts. There I worked 60-70 hours per week for a month helping to fix broken roofs, remove fallen trees from houses, and make peoples homes livable.

I volunteered in Florida for the whole month of January, a whole 4 months after Hurricane Michael hit the panhandle of Florida. The people we were helping had been unable to get assistance from other charity groups or state or local government, and had been living in partially destroyed homes for months. It was heartbreaking to see the conditions that these people had to endure, and the lack of access to services. I pushed myself to the limit to help as many people as I could before the end of my 1-month service.

By the time I left, despite making a great impact in the lives of people living there, there were still countless people who still needed help. I am pursuing my degree in environmental resource policy in part because I want to improve our disaster preparedness to ensure that no one has to be subjected to such conditions again. Having the opportunity to help truly changed my life.

My public service didn’t stop when I stopped getting paid for it. I have an extensive volunteer service showing my commitment to public service. I have had many volunteer roles: international student ambassador in my undergraduate institution, volunteer interpreter at the Seattle Aquarium, outreach volunteer at my local conservation district, and served as a Park Ranger at our National Parks.

This fellowship will help me support myself in my goal to achieve a higher education, Thank you for the opportunity to apply to this fellowship, and for your consideration.

– Lorenzo, Winner of the 2022 Marc Zboch Academic Scholarship

2021 MARC ZBOCH ACADEMIC SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENT

One of the most life-changing times in my life started in August of 2017. I was 20 years old and was struggling to find a calling and purpose for my life. Through random mutual friends, I ended up flying to the Island of Lesbos Greece, where I spent the next 1.5 years volunteering off and on in a refugee camp. It was here that I met some of the most caring, kind, and giving people I could ever hope to meet. I transitioned into a caseworker for vulnerable women. This included giving safety talks to single women, trafficking looking into problems that arose in daily life in the camp, and reporting what I found to the Greek Social worker and the UN offices. It was the hardest thing I had ever done.

Their stories and experiences have changed my life forever. I am currently pursuing a degree in Human Services. I think it is easy to put it in a box and say it is a 3rd world problem, but I see the same thing happening in America. There are so many people on their own who need to be seen and heard. I want to be in a career where I can interact with those who feel forgotten and show them love and compassion.

– Katrina, Winner of the 2021 Marc Zboch Academic Scholarship