The Shasta Chapter CNPS is delighted to announce this year’s highly deserving scholarship recipients: Zane Walker and Lyra Martin.
Out of this year’s extremely qualified field of applicants, Zane Walker was very quickly scored as the top contender by each of our six scholarship committee members. Zane lives on a cattle ranch near Montague, and is home-schooled. He has a 4.0 GPA and is headed to Oregon State University (Honors College), Corvalis, majoring in Botany.
Zane is well on his way to a career as a research botanist. He has taken some 250 hours of classes at Siskiyou Field Institute (SFI), studying botany, bryology, lichenology, and many other natural sciences. Through his SFI connections, he met Dr. Bruce McCune, a botany professor at Oregon State University, and expects to be working withe Dr. McCune even as an undergrad.
Zane also volunteered as an assistant at SFI, has been asked by professor Allison Varty at College of the Siskiyous to serve as her teaching assistant in field botany, attended the 2020 Northern California Botanist’s symposium, and (not mentioned in his application) he is a Shasta Chapter member!
I think you can see why he was our unanimous top selection! He will receive the $2,000 Frank Kosko Memorial Scholarship*—a fitting recipient of this award, in memory of an extraordinary naturalist.
The task of selecting scholarship recipients is always difficult due to the generally impressive scholastic records and community activities of the applicants, and some years we’ll add a supplementary scholarship when a second candidate has an exemplary record. This was the case for Lyra Martin, for whom the Board authorized a $1,000 scholarship to recognize her outstanding accomplishments.
Lyra is from Shingletown and attends Shasta High School. She has a 3.95 GPA (4.4 weighted) and is headed to UC Santa Cruz, where she will major in Biology. She plans a career as a restoration ecologist.
Lyra is an accomplished violinist, has participated in various sports (tennis, color guard, track), and is a certified bicycle mechanic. She spent one summer as a volunteer at Lassen Volcanic National Park, where she participated in bird banding, wildlife camera maintenance, spotted owl nest location, and other activities.
Congratulations to both Zane and Lyra! The Shasta Chapter CNPS wishes you the best of luck in your studies and careers.
While we would normally invite these young scholars to meet the membership at our June Chapter meeting, that is unlikely to happen this year, what with our given situation. Perhaps fall will give us another opportunity—we will keep you posted. -Don Burk, Scholarship Committee Chair
*The Frank Kosko Memorial Scholarship was made possible, in part, by generous donations from Horsetown-Clear Creek Preserve, Lisa Ross & Ray Pfister, and one anonymous donor. The Shasta Chapter extends its most sincere thanks to these gracious donors.