Virginia Beach Defense Group Future Resources Scholarship Award Winners

With a great range of impressive applications submitted from students around the country, we are happy to announce the recognition of one exemplary young man, who demonstrates the importance of preservation and conservation, and stands as an influence to students everywhere of the value of continued education and our natural resources.

2017 Winner: April Wood

April Wood is from Richfield, Idaho where she grew up on a small cattle and horse ranch. A typical ranch kid, she learned to work hard taking care of livestock and doing ranch chores early on, and spent all her spare time in the Idaho mountains. April played Varsity basketball, her team took the Idaho State 1AD2 State Basketball Championship both her Junior and Senior year, and April was named the 1AD2 Idaho State Player of the Year in 2016. April now attends Rocky Mountain College in Billings Mt. where she is double majoring in both Biology and Environmental Science. In her freshman year April was named the Environmental Science student of the year at Rocky Mountain College. Her goal is to go on to a Master’s Degree program in Wildlife Biology after graduation. April intends to dedicate her career to saving endangered and threatened species.

2016 Winner: Kevin Hollerbach

In 2016, Kevin Hollerbach, a masters student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, is the winner of the Future Resources Scholarship, celebrating extraordinary students who are in the pursuit of education necessary to help build a more sustainable future.

Kevin is in his final year of his graduate studies and is pursuing a Masters in Sustainability Science with a specialization in Sustainability Education. He is also the Sustainability Coordinator for Residential Life at his university. Kevin began the first residential composting program at UMass, which has diverted over 2.5 tons of compostable waste from the trash stream to date.

Mr. Hollerbach also wrote and campaigned for a plastic bag ban in the Town of Amherst, which passed by a 110-30 vote in Amherst town meeting this past May. Since then, he has become a member of the Amherst Recycling and Refuse Management Committee. The plastic bag bylaw will be going into effect in January.

Upon receiving this award, Kevin stated how excited he was in the affirmation of finishing his degree after his 6 years working in sustainability at his university and in his town of Amherst. With his extensive research and volunteer history in environmental conservation, his focus on education serves as an inspiration for a future that is slightly cleaner and greener than when he was born. His dedication to research and his commitment to the environment ensures us this is just the beginning of how he will be making a better future for all.

2018 Future Resources Scholarship

Application requirements and award information for the 2018 Virginia Beach Defense Group Future Resources Scholarship here.