Conservation

Community in Conservation

Each year, WC receives applications from organizations across Delmarva for waterfowl and habitat related projects and runs a 1-to-1 matching fund called our Community in Conservation funding program. In 2019, Waterfowl Chesapeake awarded $7500 in seed funding to two educational projects on Delmarva through this grant program.

Students learn about carving at the Ward Museum

The Ward Museum – $3,750
The Ward Museum’s project will offer classroom visits and field trips for Talbot County kindergarten students to experience the Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art. While this opportunity is already successful in several other Shore counties, it will be a new program for students in Talbot County. The curriculum supports Maryland State Department of Education’s Environmental Literacy Standards and meets the Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience (MWEE) requirement for kindergarteners.

University of Delaware – $3,750
UD’s field program “Promoting Waterfowl Hunter Education for New Adult Students” better connects today’s graduate students with tomorrow’s careers in Waterfowl Ecology. Today, many graduate students studying in this field the have never had the actual experience of hunting. These young adults are likely to become the future leaders in environmental resource management, with positions in academia, state agencies or federal service. How can they communicate with the hunters and landowners if they have never had the experienced the sport? Through this program, students are given the opportunity to gain their hunter education certification (via course material and gun safety training) as well as learn and discuss waterfowl identification, waterfowl policy, waterfowl habitat management, values structures associated with hunting, hunting dog training, and cooking wild game.

William A. Perry Scholarship Fund

A gift to the Perry Scholarship fund is an investment in the education of the Festival’s youth volunteers. William A . Perry, one of the Festival’s founders, and his wife Betty were instrumental in the formation of the “Duck Sitter” youth volunteer program. Donations made directly to the scholarship fund provide support for annual awards made to student volunteers attending college and other institutions of higher learning. Funding for the scholarships also comes from the Waterfowl Festival’s Auction at the annual Premiere Night party, now known as the William A. Perry Scholarship Auction.

Annual awards from this fund are made from the scholarship funds to students attending college and other institutions of higher learning, with the exception of post-graduate school. Students are eligible for consideration for scholarship awards by having volunteered significant time and service for the Waterfowl Festival.

Scholarship Eligibility Requirements

In order to be eligible for a scholarship an applicant must satisfy the following criteria:

1. Be a student in his or her senior year of high school that has been accepted for further studies by an accredited college, military academy or trade school, or be a high school graduate that is currently enrolled as an undergraduate at a college, military or trade school and is a student in good standing.
2. The student must have volunteered his or her services for the Waterfowl Festival within the previous two (2) years, and must have performed/completed ten (10) hours of service during one Festival. Services may include those for which community service credit was received. However, volunteer efforts during the Festival period for organizations other than the Waterfowl Festival (such as food vendors) do not qualify a student for scholarship consideration.
3. Grades will be taken into consideration in scholarship awards. Students must maintain at least a B average (3.0 GPA) to be considered in the pool of scholarship funds available.
4. The maximum number of years that one may receive a scholarship is five (5) years.
5. The student must submit a completed application with all supporting materials to the Waterfowl Festival office by the deadline stated below.

IMPORTANT: Applications received that do not contain supporting materials as outlined will not be considered.

A Completed Essay
Official final transcript from the school
Any other documentation that you may feel is warranted for approval of this scholarship review.

Renewals: Prior applicants and recipients of scholarships may re-apply annually as long as they are enrolled and in good standing as an undergraduate at an accredited college or institution of higher education and have not received funds for more than five (5) years (see requirement above). Renewal applications will be evaluated based upon the extent of initial and continuing service to the Waterfowl Festival. Those applicants applying after completing their sophomore year of college must have volunteered to work at one or more of the last two (2) Waterfowl Festivals in order to remain eligible.

All completed applications and supporting materials will be evaluated by the Scholarship Committee. Due to limited resources, not all qualified applicants will receive a scholarship. Applications will be evaluated based upon the extent of volunteer service to the Waterfowl Festival.

Scholarship recipients will be notified by mail in July.
Note: Students must have volunteered for Waterfowl Festival for two years to be eligible.

Applications for 2021 Scholarships will be available this Spring.