MANASSAS, VA. July 16, 2018 – American Disposal Services Inc. is proud to announce that three local students were awarded the 2018 American Disposal Services Environmental Impact Scholarship. Leah Shaw from Falls Church High School in Fairfax, Virginia Anthony Cordova-Ramirez from Dominion High School in Sterling, Virginia and Emma Johnson from Woodbridge High School in Woodbridge, Virginia. Each recipient was chosen by an internal panel through a rigorous application process highlighting their academic and environmental achievements. Each student was awarded $2,500.00.
Students and their families were invited to attend a special brunch and tour on July 5th , 2018 at the American Recycling Center. After receiving their scholarship checks, students shared some details regarding their future plans.
Leah Shaw plans to study Communications at the University of South Carolina and hoping to pursue a career in Public Relations. She is also planning to join a living community called ‘Green Quad’ which features green and environmentally conscious living arrangements for students. Leah showed great dedication to environmental stewardship by leading the recycling initiative at Falls Church High School. She ordered extra recycling bins and developed a promotional campaign, focused on paper use, with creative videos and banners to get her schoolmates and teachers more excited. When asked what she thought our biggest obstacle regarding recycling was, Leah said, “People don’t see how big of an impact it has…they don’t realize how little things can go such a long way.”
Anthony Cordova-Ramirez will begin his college journey at Northern Virginia Community College before transferring to a larger university where he will work towards a U.S. History degree. He plans to use his degree to become a teacher. Anthony’s application and recommendation showed his dedication to changing people’s views on recycling and leaving something for future generations to build upon by spearheading a project to build a school greenhouse out of recycled plastic bottles. Anthony shared with us that his biggest inspiration is his father who taught him how beautiful our world is and that it should be protected.
Emma Johnson was accepted to the Georgia Institute of Technology where she will study a combination of classes hopefully leading into a career working on life support systems on Mars. She’s considering joining a sustainability and a backpacking group on campus. Emma is passionate about many things including STEAM education, creating dual-purpose items, and space-based research. Within a 7-day period, Emma created a multi-piece, handsewn dress made from recycled newspaper, plastic, and straws to go with her pop-top purse and necklace. She wore this dress to school and posted it to social media to bring awareness to recycling efforts. Emma’s ideas regarding the future of recycling include getting the word out via public relations efforts. She says, “A lot of the stuff that could help us does exist. It’s just people don’t know about it.”
Created in 2012, the American Disposal Environmental Impact Scholarship hopes to encourage local youth to be environmental stewards throughout their education and adulthood. The scholarship is offered to local communities and is an annual scholarship for graduating seniors with plans to attend post-secondary education.
“Giving back to our community is a very important part of American Disposal’s mission. Being able to help these students fulfill their environmental goals is very gratifying to us. These future leaders deserve the opportunity to make a positive difference in our world. We wish Leah, Anthony, and Emma all the best.” – Kevin Edwards, General Manager American Disposal Services, Inc.