2022 Scholarship Competition

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.

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.

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.

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 wood turtle tracking and data collection, the construction of local rain gardens and pollinator gardens, local bird counts and invasive 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.

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.