UMaine Students Named Scholarship Winners
Contact: Mary Fernandez (207) 581-2938; Tom Weber (207) 581-3777
Orono — The University of Maine College of Natural Sciences, Forestry and Agriculture has announced that two students in its Department of Plant, Soil and Environmental Sciences have been awarded significant scholarships.
David Merrill, a second-year student majoring in sustainable agriculture, is the recipient of a $5,000 Garden Club Federation of Maine scholarship. The state award also makes him automatically eligible for one of the $3,500 scholarships offered by the National Garden Club, which is expected to make its decisions by late May.
Merrill, of Newburgh, says he hopes to make a career one day that combines his interest in plants and small-scale food production with community-based education. This summer, he will be one of three student managers of the Black Bear Food Guild’s two-acre vegetable garden at UMaine’s Rogers Farm.
Kevin Douglas, a sophomore majoring in landscape horticulture, is the first student from UMaine to be awarded the nationally competitive Vic and Margaret Ball Intern Scholarship. The $6,000 prize and paid internship are issued through the American Floral Endowment.
Douglas, who grew up near Philadelphia, will attend UMaine’s 2008 fall semester and then leave in January for a six-month internship with a commercial production greenhouse or nursery, perhaps in California. He will receive the $6,000 award when the internship is completed.