Are you a Grade 12 student in Nova Scotia? Know of a student whose actions could pay off?
Divert NS offers up to seven scholarships to students who have exemplified dedication to protecting our environment. There are seven scholarships, one $5,000 Provincial Scholarship, and six $2,500 Regional Scholarships to be won!
2022 Scholarship winners have been announced!
Meet the 2022 Champions of the Environment
Congratulations to six 2022 Divert NS Champion of the Environment Scholarship winners. Learn more about these environmental champions, and read their award-winning essays below.
Marissa Cox
$5,000 PROVINCIAL SCHOLARSHIP WINNER
REGION: CAPE BRETON
Riverview Rural High
Marissa has participated in numerous litter cleanups and other environmental activities, but over the last three years she has focused her efforts on scientific research to help solve environmental issues. While designing her school science fair project on treating lead in her school’s drinking water, Marissa became interested in the use of biochar to treat water, sequester carbon, combat climate change, and other environmental issues. She volunteered at a Cape Breton University (CBU) research lab to learn more about biochar and complete her research related to her project. Her enthusiasm for her research led Marissa to join the NOVA ACTION program with Coastal Action. Under this program, she continued her work with CBU and completed a research project testing crab-based biochar as a fertilizer for pumpkins. In addition to being the only high school student working in the University lab, working with high tech analytical equipment and instrumentation, Marissa designed and completed the research during pandemic-related lockdowns and generated data that was publishable in peer reviewed journals.
To read Marissa’s essay on how we can reach Nova Scotia’s waste reduction goals, click here.
Ashley Kenney
$2,500 REGIONAL SCHOLARSHIP WINNER
REGION: ANTIGONISH | GUYSBOROUGH | PICTOU COUNTY
Northumberland Regional High
As the co-head of her school’s Environmental Committee, Ashley has organized and participated in numerous school and community cleanups and collaborated with several community groups. The committee ha
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s teamed up with the Pictou County Tree Planting Committee to plant trees this spring and Ashley has been working with Pictou County Solid Waste to create an informational video on waste management. The goal is to educate students of their impact on the waste management sector, and the amount of waste produced by the community. With her growing concern with climate change, she joined the Fridays for Future group in Pictou and has led protests on climate change. Ashley has also been a member of the New Glasgow Town Council’s Youth Climate group for the past two years. In this role, she shares her ideas for community change and supports climate initiatives. She was also pivotal in the Town of New Glasgow becoming the first Bee City in Nova Scotia. To read Ashley’s essay on how we can reach Nova Scotia’s waste reduction goals, click here.
Megumi Ozawa
$2,500 REGIONAL SCHOLARSHIP WINNER
REGION: COLCHESTER | EAST HANTS | CUMBERLAND
Pugwash High
Megumi’s involvement in student council over the past three years (including President this year) has led her to organize Earth Day events and numerous school cleanups. Through her volunteer work with
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the Wentworth Learning Centre, Megumi organized, promoted, and registered a community cleanup initiative through Adopt a Highway Nova Scotia. Megumi is also passionate about energy efficiency and how individuals can help mitigate climate change. In 2019, she was chosen as a national finalist for the Canadian Wide Science Fair for her project on conservating energy through household appliances. Megumi has also participated in a Climate March through the village of Pugwash and was selected as a youth delegate for the 2019 Youth Climate Change Thinkers Retreat. The retreat was held at the renowned Thinkers Lodge in Pugwash and was a gathering of 20 people from across Atlantic Canada ages 15 to 29. In the fall of 2021, Megumi acted as a liaison and ambassador for the Summit on Nuclear and Climate Crises that was held through the Thinkers Lodge. She collaborated with Youth Thinkers to present to her school about climate change and nuclear disarmament. To read Megumi’s essay on how we can reach Nova Scotia’s waste reduction goals, click here.
Lindsey Wamboldt
$2,500 REGIONAL SCHOLARSHIP WINNER
REGION: HALIFAX
Cole Harbour District High
Most of Lindsey’s environmental activities are centered around the outdoors and natural world. As a Girl Guide, she learned from a young age to “take only pictures, leave only footprints” and the impo
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rtance of treating the natural world with respect. With Girl Guides, Lindsey has organized and participated in community and beach clean ups, Earth Day, and global water fundraisers. She has also joined Wild Outside, a conservation-focused youth leadership program, where she completed 100+ service hours. This includes multiple shoreline clean-ups, maintaining a community garden, local trail maintenance, building bat boxes, and making “seed bombs”, which help to grow local wildflower populations. She participated in the “City Nature Challenge”, which is an international competition between cities that promotes citizen science and helps obtain data on local wildlife in participating areas. Lindsey is a member of the leadership team, which helps the Youth Leadership Specialists plan events. Lindsey’s love of wildlife and the natural world has only grown with her recent work with Back to the Sea Society and her volunteer activities at Hope for Wildlife. She’s recently completed a Basic Wildlife Rehabilitation Course offered by the International Wildlife Rehabilitation Council and plans to continue her studies at the University of Guelph, taking a BSc Wildlife Biology and Conservation. To read Lindsey’s essay on how we can reach Nova Scotia’s waste reduction goals, click here.
Sebastian Conyers
$2,500 REGIONAL SCHOLARSHIP WINNER
REGION: ANNAPOLIS VALLEY
Annapolis West Education Centre
Sebastian started volunteering with the Clean Annapolis River Project (CARP), a local environmental group, when he was only nine years old. At 13, he joined CARP’s Environmental Youth Leadership progr
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am, and his high school’s Envirothon team. The team won first place for two consecutive years in Nova Scotia’s provincial competition. His work and volunteer experience also led to him joining the youth leader panel at the Annapolis County Climate Summit. Sebastian continues to volunteer with CARP, assisting with the construction of fish habitat, ribbon snake and woodturtle tracking and data collection, the construction of local rain gardens and pollinator gardens, local bird counts andinvasive species control, microplastic collection and analysis, and much more. Additionally, he regularly organizes beach cleanups along the Annapolis Valley shoreline and has his own jewelry line, which provides education about the environmental impact of large-scale forestry. Sebastian is attending Carleton University's Architectural Sustainability and Conservation Engineering program, and plans to one day design affordable, sustainable, and environmentally friendly housing for Nova Scotians. To read Sebastian’s essay on how we can reach Nova Scotia’s waste reduction goals, click here.
Stella Bowles
$2,500 REGIONAL SCHOLARSHIP WINNER
REGION: SOUTH SHORE | WEST HANTS
Parkview Education Centre
At 11 years old, Stella learned about straight pipes directly depositing sewage into the LaHave River and decided to act. After contacting local experts and receiving training on testing practices, St
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ella tested the fecal contamination of the river as part of her science fair project. She continued to sample, compile, and share her data through social media and presentations. The resulting local and international attention led to the community and three levels of government to develop a $15.7 million dollar cleanup plan for the river and all illegal pipes will be removed by 2023. Her ongoing work on the LaHave resulted in Stella winning medals at National Science Fair and becoming the youngest published micropaleontologist in the world, with a peer reviewed article in the Journal of Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science. Stella has won the Divert NS Mobius Award for Environmental Excellence, Emerging Environmental Leader 2017 and was recently awarded the Order of Nova Scotia, the youngest person ever to receive this award. In addition to winning numerous prestigious awards for her hard work, Stella continues to share her message at conferences and events. She particularly enjoys presenting to younger kids, especially girls, where she can prove that one young girl can make a difference. To read Stella’s essay on how we can reach Nova Scotia’s waste reduction goals, click here.
