The Sara Shallenberger Brown Garden Club of America National Parks Conservation Scholarship
School: Undergraduate, The State University of New York Delhi

Apprentice Crew Leader Natural Areas Conservancy Summer Youth Crew 1

Returning as an Apprentice Crew Leader, Barrot will continue to build leadership skills by helping supervise a summer team of high school youth conducting hands-on conservation projects. Stewardship projects will include trail maintenance and invasive species management and mitigation. Barrot will also participate in the construction and implementation of new trails and drainage structures. The SCA program will provide Barrot with continued growth opportunities in which to continue learning conservation skills to help build a foundation to reach professional aspirations.

The Sara Shallenberger Brown Garden Club of America National Parks Conservation Scholarship
School: Undergraduate, College of Mount Saint Vincent

Apprentice Crew Leader Natural Areas Conservancy Summer Youth Crew 2

Mack will work as an Apprentice Crew Leader, providing support, encouragement, and mentorship to high school students in the SCA summer program. In addition to doing hands-on conservation projects, Mack and his crew will participate in environmental education lessons and activities focused on climate change awareness, environmental justice, urban farming, and composting. Serving as a Crew Leader will allow Mack to learn new skills and grow personally and professionally.

The Sara Shallenberger Brown Garden Club of America National Parks Conservation Scholarship
Angel Barrott has served with SCA in various capacities since 2019.  He has always been excited and interested in conservation stewardship. Angel has challenged and stretched himself during his time with SCA and was even able to recruit several of his classmates to participate in the program last summer. He has pushed himself with public speaking, sharing his environmental capstone project with a large group during the 2021 summer program. During that program, his crew spent much of their time working in Van Cortland Park on a very challenging project to close one section of trail and construct a new rerouted section. Our park partner liaison with the Van Cortland Park Alliance, John Butler, Program Director, Restoration & Stewardship said this about the workmanship demonstrated by Angel and his crewmates: “As a community partner of the SCA, I was extremely impressed with the quality of the work the crew did within Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. The high school students provided professional level trail work on a reroute of a section of trail away from a seasonally wet location.

The Sara Shallenberger Brown Garden Club of America National Parks Conservation Scholarship

Conservation and Youth Development

A four-year member of SCA during high school, Mack is an ideal candidate for SCA’s Apprentice Crew Leader Program. Last summer, Mack worked closely with fellow crewmates and shared knowledge and passion for the natural areas of New York. Mack’s opinions were valuable when planning daily conservation projects, and Mack’s enthusiasm and positive attitude uplifted crewmates and leaders. The SCA program will provide Mack with a growth opportunity in which to continue to build conservation skills and reach professional aspirations.

The Sara Shallenberger Brown Garden Club of America National Parks Conservation Scholarship
School: Gap Year, Bellevue College

Apprentice Crew Leader, SCA National Conservation Crew Program

McDowell will participate in field training and protection of resources at one of America’s National Parks through the SCA’s Summer Apprentice Crew Leader Program. She has worked as the Nursery Manager for the Washington Conservation Corps for the Snohomish Conservation District. In 2018, she was an SCA Trail Crew Member at Kisatchie National Forest in Louisiana.

The Sara Shallenberger Brown Garden Club of America National Parks Conservation Scholarship

Apprentice Crew Leader, SCA National Conservation Crew Program


Gemma Roberts is a freshman at Virginia Commonwealth University majoring in communication arts with a minor in environmental studies. She will participate in field training and protection of resources at one of America’s national parks through the Student Conservation Association’s Summer Apprentice Crew Leader Program. She participated with SCA last year, working as a crew member in Rock Creek National Park, Washington, DC.

The Sara Shallenberger Brown Garden Club of America National Parks Conservation Scholarship

Apprentice Crew Leader, SCA National Conservation Crew Program


Maggie Gibbon is a freshman at Virginia Tech, where she is majoring in environmental policy and planning. Through the Student Conservation Association’s Summer Crew Leader Program, she will manage a crew engaged in field training and protection of resources at one of America’s national parks. Gibbon 
is a four-time SCA alumna, having worked at both Manassas National Battlefield Park, Virginia, and Rock Creek National Park, Washington, DC. During the school year, she has volunteered at Montgomery County Parks, Maryland, and has worked with the Earth Force organization to protect watersheds and weed out invasive species around the Potomac River.

The Sara Shallenberger Brown Garden Club of America National Parks Conservation Scholarship

Kiernan Bartlett will return to Christopher Newport University, Newport News, VA, in fall 2019 after taking a gap year. He will participate in  eld training and protection of resources at one of America’s national parks through the SCA Summer Apprentice Crew Leader Program. A dedicated member of SCA, Bartlett has worked at Fort DuPont National Park, George Washington Memorial Parkway, Kenilworth National Park, and Wolf Trap National Park.

The Sara Shallenberger Brown Garden Club of America National Parks Conservation Scholarship

Vinisha Browne is an undergraduate at Prince George’s Community College, majoring in environmental engineering. She will take part in SCA’s Summer Apprentice Crew Leader Program at an American national park, learning  eld training and protection of resources. In summer 2016 she worked in the New Jersey State Park System as a member of SCA’s National Crew Program.

The Sara Shallenberger Brown Garden Club of America National Parks Conservation Scholarship

Henry Fanning, an undergraduate majoring in environmental and ecosystem sciences at Washington State University in Pullman, enjoys studying plant identification, greenhouse management, and water quality monitoring. A multi-year alumnus, he has served on six national and community SCA crews and was an apprentice crew leader with two community crews. He has participated in plant propagation in the Northern Cascades, heavy stone work in New Jersey, and trail building in Grand Teton National Park. He would like to be an SCA crew leader to inspire others to love the outdoors. This summer he will be serving at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park.