Students are first awardees of Don Reeser and Mary Evanson Memorial Scholarship
Two Maui students have been chosen by the Friends of Haleakala National Park as the first awardees for the Don Reeser and Mary Evanson Memorial Scholarship for the upcoming 2020-21 academic year. They are Brissa Christophersen and Lilia Davis.
Christophersen is a fifthyear wildlife (conservation and management) and fine arts double major at Humboldt State University. Her interest in wildlife conservation was spurred by participation in Pohai Maile, a high school internship founded by Haleakala National Park to educate Maui youth about career pathways in natural resources. Since then, she has interned in many programs connected to the study and conservation of Hawaiian native birds and the environment, including a capstone honors thesis project analyzing spatial arrangements of nene nests in the Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge and the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge. After graduation, she hopes to work as a wildlife biologist, pursuing endangered species conservation work and creating art.
Davis graduated this year from Kamehameha Schools Maui and intends to study environmental science at the University
of Denver this fall. She, too, participated in Haleakala National Park’s Pohai Maile program and joined the Kamehameha Maui Science and Natural Resource Academy for her final 2 years of high school, creating a senior project that helped elementary school children identify Hawaiian native plants. She hopes to someday work at Haleakala National Park in resource management.
The two $1,000 scholarships honor the life work of both Don Reeser, superintendent of Haleakala National Park from 1988 to 2005, and Mary Evanson, co-founder of the nonprofit Friends of Haleakala National Park which supports the park’s mission to preserve and protect Haleakala’s unique ecosystems, scenic character and associated Native Hawaiian culture.
More information about the Friends of Haleakala National Park can be found at www. fhnp.org.