Putnam Highlands Audubon Society Scholarships

The Putnam Highlands Audubon Society provides two scholarships each year, The Marty McGuire Audubon Scholarship for students and the Hog Island Audubon Camp Scholarship for adults. Please find more information and application information below. 

Marty McGuire Scholarship (students)

About Marty McGuire
The late Marty McGuire was PHAS' youngest board member beginning at age 15, and was for 5 years the compiler of the Putnam Christmas Bird Count.  In 2007, Marty passed away shortly after his 25th birthday in a tragic car accident.  He was a protege of the late Ralph Odell, PHAS founder.  Ralph was widely known for sharing his enthusiasm for, and knowledge of, the region's natural world.  The MMAS seeks to acknowledge the importance of mentors such as Ralph was to Marty, and the promise of young people like Marty, who are our future. 

The Scholarship
The MMAS is a permanently restricted scholarship endowment fund. Only monies earned as income from the fund will be available for the scholarship awards. The amount of the annual award varies according to market conditions, and has ranged up to $4000. A matriculating freshman, for example, could reasonably expect an award for each of her or his four years of undergraduate study, provided she or he met the renewal requirements.

Geographic Eligibility
Awards of the MMAS will be made to students from our service area on a need-blind basis.  Students must be legal residents, or if already in college, recent  legal residents in  one of the following zip codes that define the PHAS service area:
Beacon 12508
Castle Point 12511
Chelsea 12512
Cold Spring 10516
Fishkill 12524
Garrison 10524
Glenham 12527
Hughsonville 12537
Lake Peekskill 10537
New Hamburg 12590
Putnam Valley 10579
Wappingers Falls 12590

Students who by accident of postal boundaries legally reside in one of the above places but receive mail via a different zip code are encouraged to apply and note the circumstances.

Putnam Highlands Audubon Society

Application Form

Attach the completed application, saved in MS Word, to an email with MMAS in the subject line, and send it to: mmas@putnamhighlandsaudubon.org.
Applications are due by April 1st of each year, and must be submitted electronically.  Official notice of the awards will be made by late May.  Any questions or for more info, contact mmas@putnamhighlandsaudubon.org

Hog Island Scholarship (adults)

The PHAS chapter is seeking two applicants who would like to participate in a six-day residential learning session at Audubon's famed camp in mid-coast Maine.  One of the $500 scholarships is specifically for the educator's week, which is held July 18-23, and the other scholarship is for a session of a member's choice, such as The Joy of Birding, Field Ornithology, etc.. The camp is situated on a pristine 330 acre spruce-covered island in Muscongus Bay, and can accommodate about 50 campers at a time, with wonderful gourmet-like food, great field trips, and engaging workshops and programs.  For an extensive account of camp programs, go to http://hogisland.audubon.org

For information on how to apply for consideration, contact Pete Salmansohn at psalmansohn@audubon.org or at 845-661-1552.