Scholarships & Grants

 The Dean A. Elmer scholarship of $1500 was awarded to Dylan Debilzen. Dylan graduated in 2024 from Parkers Prairie Secondary School. his life can be summarized into two things, always playing sports and enjoying the great outdoors.  He grew up doing lots of fishing and hunting. Dylan is attending University of Minnesota Crookston in the Natural Resources program and playing on the baseball team. He chose this major as he enjoys being outdoors and around animals and doing what is best for them. His career choice is leading him to become either a Lake Ecologist or a Fisheries Specialist as he absolutely loves being around lakes and fish. He is always doing what is best for nature and he cares about the life that lives around it.  

 Growing up in the country Jacob Johanson has grown to love and respect the outdoors. He is pursing a Criminal Justice Degree from Moorhead State University with a goal of becoming a MN DNR Conservation officer. As far back as he can remember he has wanted to become Conservation Officer and follow in the footsteps of his father, grandfather and great-grandfather. While working as a Conservation Officer he will use education and enforcement to provide positive impact on those he comes in contact with and work to protect our environment. He graduated in May 2024 from Osakis Public Schools. He has been awarded the$1500 Harvey K. Nelson scholarship by the PHCT board.  

Rylee Bundermann graduated in May of 2024 from Alexandria Area High School with her high school diploma and an associate degree from Alexandria Technical and Community College. She is enrolled at the University of Minnesota Crookston with a major in Natural Resources with an emphasis in natural resource management and conservation. Rylee grew up on a farm SW of Alexandria which has sparked her passion for agriculture and natural resources. She plans to enter into the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). She would like to help famers and other ag operations development management plans. She would like to give back to her community by making our world a better place.  The PHCT board awarded her the Vernon P.  Ostrom $1500 scholarship.

 Skye Norgren a 2023 high school graduate of Kennedy Secondary School in Fergus Falls was awarded a $1,000 Vernon P. Ostrom scholarship by the PHCT Board. She is currently attending Saint Mary’s University in Winona MN. Her major is criminal justice with a minor in wildlife biology. She would like to become a conservation officer. Her long term goal is to learn how nature works, how people interact with nature around them and how they change the environment. In her application she states “nature makes me calm. It makes life more peaceful.” Skye has a great love for the outdoors.    

Ella VanKempen , a 2019 graduate of West Central Area Secondary was selected to receive the Vernon P. Ostrom scholarship in the amount of $1,000.    She is in her junior year in the Environmental Sciences program at the University of MN Morris Campus.   Her father is a science teacher who is very passionate about his field.    As a child she had the privilege to wonder and have her questions answered whenever she asked them has kept her curious about the natural world.  That is why science has been the answer for her, finding out how environmental sciences aligns with her passion.  This summer 2022, she is researching and doing field work with a professor out on Mt Evans in Colorado as well as 3 weeks in the Italian Alps taking a geomorphology course.

Ava Carlson is a May 2022 graduate of Battle Lake High School.   She will be pursuing a bachelors in Environmental Sciences at the University of Minnesota Duluth.  She would then like to go to the University of California Hastings School of Law to become an Environmental Lawyer.   She chose Environmental Sciences because she believes it is important to be educated on issues that concern the environment and she will use her education to help inform other people on how to help the planet. "We all share the earth, and we all have to work together to make sure future generations have a good earth.  The PHCT Board awarded her  the Dean A. Elmer Scholarship in the amount of $1,000.00.

The Harvey K. Nelson $500.00 scholarship was awarded to Wesley Siira.  Wesley graduated in May of 2022 from Brandon-Evansville High School.   He plans to double major in Agricultural Education and Animal Science at South Dakota State University.  After college he hopes to get a job as an Ag teacher in rural Minnesota or Eastern South Dakota.  As a farmer, caring for the environment is one of the most important things.  In his application he states " if you take care of the land then it will take care of you. " As an agricultural teacher he would also be teaching environmental science classes to his students.