My name is Emma Prestly, and I am an upcoming second-year student at Grand Valley State University. I graduated from Muskegon High School with hopes of pursuing a degree that will help me achieve the goal of restoring ecosystems in Michigan. I have since joined the natural resources and environmental management program at GVSU. I am a very passionate individual who has overcome some of the challenges of being from an underprivileged background. I come from a low-income family and am a first-generation college student. Scholarships such as this make it possible for me to pursue my education. I should be selected for this scholarship because I have an unmatched dedication to being the change I want to see in the world. Scholarships such as this one will help me finish my degree and put me a grand step in the direction I need to go, where my family would be unable to help me pay for my education. I have overcome challenges of having unreliable housing and food in my past, but I still worked very hard to get the best education that I could- graduating fourth in my class in high school, despite being homeless for some time my senior year. I also represent a group of people who especially face environmental injustice. Low-income people face some of the most impactful environmental injustices because factories and other projects are built in areas where some low-income people have no choice but to live. I want to be a voice for those affected people in a field that predominantly has folks with different backgrounds and genders than I do. Also, despite my challenges, I have stayed dedicated to volunteering in my senior year and university as well. I have worked at food trucks, community gardens, Michigan watershed partnership, GVSU alternative breaks(removing invasive plants), and Relay for Life to give back to my community. I believe that I am an example of who this scholarship is looking for. I plan on making a positive impact on my community and in the world through ecological restoration. My hometown has been impacted by industrial pollution of mercury, DDT, PFAS, and other materials, so learning about this growing up has inspired me to help clean it up. I enjoy working outside, so I would want to do some kind of field work. This would mean that I could be surveying plants, planting seedlings, participating in prescribed burns, taking water samples, and conducting other studies to restore damaged areas. This is important so that an area may thrive as it once did, but also so the natural resources people rely on can be sustainably utilized. I also have an interest in natural resources policy, which is where people vote and advocate for laws that protect the environment from projects that may damage it. These projects may involve dredging a wetland for a building project or building in an area where a protected species lives. I would like to do my part in advocating for these conservation policies, which may be controversial for those who want to promote unsustainable and cheap business practices that disregard the natural state of an area. I also have an attachment towards the types of ecosystems that Michigan has, so I would like to do work locally that helps protect the Great Lakes and surrounding lands. I would like to finish this by saying thank you- the Mark Green Memorial Scholarship committee, for taking the time to consider my application. I appreciate all that you have done to help people in need finish their education, because education is power. Thank you.

One major aspect of my passion for the environment is my upbringing. I grew up in a heavily industrial area that has been very disrupted by pollution. Since I began to discover issues of PFAS, DDT, and Mercury within my watershed, I have had a fascination with ecological restoration. I became curious about how this industrial pollution impacted an ecosystem and the life within them. I also heard about the issues of biomagnification of chemicals across a food web and found it disturbingly intriguing. Another issue in my community, there has been great success with ecological restoration. Brownfield sites and trashed shorelines have been greatly improved. However, businesses today ignore the authority of EGLE and the EPA to continue to build sites. These examples of environmental injustice in my city and a longtime love for my lake truly kickstarted my goal of having a hand in restoration. I am currently studying natural resources and environmental management, with certificates in wildland fire management and ecological restoration. Some very important ways to mitigate the negative impact of climate change are environmental policy, environmental restoration, and environmental conservation. Environmental restoration is helpful for past environmental damages, and future ones in case there is no change in policy or proper restoration. Restoration in a way, is sort of cleaning up a mess that is constantly being created. I plan on getting a career in helping restore some of these damages. This may be through planting native plants, identifying wildlife in an area, participating in prescribed burns, and other projects. One major way that people often say to combat climate change is through your dollar. Buy foods with sustainable farming practices, buy organic foods to reduce fertilizer runoff. However, any bit of education has taught me that these solutions are not financially feasible for everyone and take a movement of people significantly changing their day-to-day habits in order to make an impact. A lot of my family and friends may not be able to afford to "vote with their dollar" in this way. The solution that I propose is the importance of policy. The average person may not be able to spend extra on sustainable goods, but they can certainly vote or advocate for environmental regulation and compromises in situations that would destroy ecosystems for building projects. Not everyone can afford to make sustainable lifestyle choices, but everyone can write on a sign and raise their voice. One example I can think of is the advisor of the EPA Lee Zeldin, boasting one of the largest deregulatory actions in EPA history, promising lower fuel prices and more affordable goods. Despite these promises, loosening regulations on the clean air act and regulations on CO2 emissions allows companies and organizations to cause intense environmental damages that could be prevented with these regulations kept in place. Other issues in regard to use of public lands for natural resources rather than preserving them can be voted against as well. In short, I would recommend for someone to make sustainable personal decisions if they can afford it, but also to educate others on environmental injustice, vote on issues, and advocate for the future of the land and waterways in which people rely. Finally, I would like to say thank you for taking the time to consider my application. I hope that you do notice my great passion for the environment and field restoration. Scholarships such as this one allow for me to one day reach my career goals and make the impact that I aspire to in the world.

One significant struggle in my life has been financial insecurity at home. This has led to less access to food, not having secure housing, working hard to pay for my higher education, and other struggles. My parents are divorced, but I have spent some time living with both of my parents. When I lived with my dad as a kid, we lived off of one income- usually spent towards his alcohol addiction. In this situation, I very much took initiative. I handled all of the chores in my house and turned in cans to buy food with the recycling money. I cooked and purchased my own food and relied on school lunches once I got back from the pandemic lockdown. As I grew older and lived with my mom I faced housing insecurity. With her low credit score she cannot afford to own a house, so we rented. When I was 16, I had a job and sometimes contributed up to 400 dollars to the rent, but it was once again my mother fighting to support my brother, me, and my disabled stepdad with a place to stay. I paid for a lot of my own expenses as far as food, new shoes, hygiene products, marching band fees, and transportation to any place I needed to go. I worked at my job to use my money so I could continue to have a place to stay and do well in school with the circumstances given to me. Eventually though, my family got evicted from our house. I spent a few days staying with a neighbor and my parents in a motel. I struggled a lot with my mental health and other issues at the time, but I still pushed forward. My family found a new place to rent but could not contribute much money towards my higher education. With these experiences I did learn a lot. I learned to spend money carefully, and how to find help from people in my school and community. It made me a fighter, not only for my personal life but my community. Income inequality, the impacts of addiction, food and housing security, environmental inequality, and limited access to learning resources have become causes very near to my heart, and I like to do what I can to speak with people about these issues. It also has made me more socially aware in a university setting, with my major it has helped me understand the systematic environmental exploitation of low-income neighborhoods- an issue that I have seen firsthand with the brownfield sites and industrial parks of Muskegon. In my honors class, a girl from a middle-class background may say that it is hard for low-income people to have passions because of their struggle to survive financially, from experience I can speak on that. It made me more passionate, and it pushed other people in my community to learn about their passions as well, while other people who may have succumbed to addiction have struggled. Now that I am in university I can recall these events from my past well. Sometimes I feel almost angry that I have not had the same opportunities as other people, that others might be trapped in their hometowns and not have the means to achieve their dreams. My struggle has pushed me to take advantage of what resources I have available, to promise myself to pursue higher education in the world and achieve the goals that I have for myself. I want to restore human damage to natural environments. I appreciate your time in considering my application, Thank you.

The phrase "Once upon a time in Hollywood" makes me think of several things. The main thing that comes to mind when I think of the phrase reminds me of how many people see Hollywood and Los. Angeles cities of dreams and fantasy, where they are just as real as any other place. People will go there to live out their fairy tales and become famous. While many people do achieve their dreams in Hollywood, many dreams are not achieved. Society tends to put certain places on a pedestal. From Hollywood to Dubai, there is still suffering in a land of fairy tales. In Hollywood, there is hot weather, drug addiction, homelessness, poverty, and people taken advantage of just as anyone would be in any other place. The phrase also reminds me of the stories of films themselves. Through the power of acting, stories can actually come to life despite how glamorized life in Hollywood is. Despite the hardships that people will encounter to get to Hollywood, many people with a passion for acting get the opportunity to be in a hub of people with similar passions. This is something that draws people to Hollywood, and it makes people put the idea of passion and community over the potential challenges of living in a place. When I was younger, I was actually considering moving to California to become an animator. Emeryville, California is the home of Pixar, and it is a place where artists thrive. However, rent and living expenses can make it very difficult for a young artist or actor to begin their career while taking care of their physical and mental health. Once upon a time in Hollywood, a portrait was painted of the vast class differences of people. Drugs and gang violence run rampant in small communities neighboring these world-famous cities. Next to the mansions, there are small run-down apartments and motels. California is just the same as any other place in a sense. It has the bright touristy things and the low things. It tells the story of passion and history through the arts. And finally, it gives society a place to look to where so many want to go, but perhaps just as many would like to leave. 'Once upon a time'. It is the beginning of just any fairytale, but a fairytale involves a lot of peril and challenge, until finally, just maybe. You can reach your happy ending. "The End"

I have two major favorite activities in Minecraft. One of them is creating roller coasters. I used to make them in creative mode with my childhood best friend. I would send them through golden houses, spirals of black and white wool, and have them go underground, above ground, and villages. I liked to be able to create something that I could interact with in the game and I still have good memories with it. Now that I play more often in survival, I have been creating a railroad to the nearest village which has been very fun for me. I had the Halloween world on X-box and I enjoyed the tall and spooky roller coaster that was available on that. The zooming around through the world and the creativity of being able to build a roller coaster stand out to me. My other favorite activity is to go into creative mode and explore. I like running into monuments, and villages, and exploring mines. I enjoy that there is a whole world to explore and that I can find treasures anywhere. Sometimes I go look for shipwrecks, and sometimes I wander through cherry blossoms and flower areas. I think that a deep part of me enjoys exploration. I could explore the world with my best friend during late-night sleepovers. I remember when I was younger Minecraft was so empty and melancholic. Wandering around the abyss was so wonderful, and now after many many updates, there are still so many randomly generated worlds that I can explore. I enjoyed finding out about Minecraft secrets from disks to igloos, to monsters that can hear you approach. Minecraft is very dear to me. I have memories of it with my best friend and brother. I remember the soft music as we built and ran across flatlands. It is a childlike joy that I always feel when I pick up my system to play Minecraft. I appreciate this opportunity to get a scholarship from the love of this thing that so many of us hold dear. Thank you for considering me.

I am a student from Muskegon, Michigan looking to pursue a bachelor's degree related to environmental studies. My goal is to be able to reduce the negative human impact on the earth by cleaning up the earth, studying wildlife, and making human cities and actions more sustainable than they are right now. I want to do this career because I am interested in how the earth systems work together, but I also want the local animals to survive. There was a time in Michigan when the lakes and rivers right by where I live and go to school were used for dumping industrial waste. Once I learned that, it was disheartening to me. I want to do anything that I can do to heal that damage. I am a very committed student and I make sure that my goals are bold while also attainable. I have worked hard to take every opportunity available to me including the National Honors Society, TRIO upward bound, Marching band, local art scholarships, and AP classes. Going to university will make all of this work pay off so that I can continue to enhance my skills and get closer to a career where I can help the earth. These opportunities have impacted me by helping me become more confident and to explore parts of the world that I may not have otherwise. I have had the opportunity to travel to New York, Washington DC, and Cincinnati. I have volunteered at food trucks, competed against marching bands, and shown my artwork at art shows. All of these experiences make me want to further my education, so I plan on getting an undergraduate in environmental science or a related field to help me learn as much as I can. Of course, going to university takes money. This is where the impact of this scholarship would come in for me. I am a first-generation college student, my mom and dad were not able to attend college. This means that I have to figure out how to apply for scholarships and be able to study on my own. Also, I come from a poor income family, so my parents will not be able to financially support me when I leave to go to university. This is not just in helping me get books way, but this also means that my parents will not pay anything for my tuition. Having to find a way to pay for University myself, any scholarship is a step in allowing me to get more education. It allows for me to have a more comfortable life when I am older, and so that I can spend time volunteering as well as working. This is how this scholarship would impact me, and I thank you for considering my application.

I have a lot of ideas and aspirations for my future. One of my main ones is to help make the earth cleaner and more sustainable. I grew up in Lake Michigan, so having an environment that is safe for every plant and animal to thrive in is very important to me. I am still deciding on what job I exactly want, but I think that I would enjoy ecology, aquaculture, fieldwork, lab work, and government. I enjoy research and seeing the impact that I have on the world. Science also is very interesting to me because it allows me to see how the world works and how we as humans impact natural systems. I like to know everything that I can from the world, from naming the type of plant something is, to what exactly our food is made out of. University would help me to learn as much as I possibly could, and open the doors for many more jobs for me. This scholarship would help me because I am in a low-income household so I would be paying every cent that I can get from scholarships and grants. Also, I would be a first-generation college student. I am still very motivated to get into college so I am applying to every scholarship that I relate to. I plan on getting my bachelor's degree in environmental science or a related study and then find a job in Michigan that is related to the environment. I also want to be able to live a comfortable life after I graduate, and having as little debt as possible would be very useful in helping me put my money towards a house instead. I want to be able to spend time enjoying Lake Huron and Lake Michigan, while also being confident that I have an impact on the way that the environment is looking. I think that I am so motivated to get into this career because I feel like nature understands me in a way. The fungus and plants at Lake Harbor Park wouldn't be able to tell what is bothering me or what my views are, but it is so wonderfully wild and unpredictable. I believe that nature is truly neutral. Not evil, or frightening, not pure, not good. It is just what nature is. I just want to ease the damage of what humans have done to it- where it didn't decide to be destroyed. I also want to help prevent any future damage that could be caused. SO in summery, I want to be able to help improve the ecosystem, live a comfortable life, and to find a job that I enjoy. Thank you in for your consideration of me for this scholarship.

I have overcome many challenges in my life, and they all sort of alter who I am going to be. I think that one of my most major challenges in life was the environment that I lived in for many years. I had a sort of odd childhood. My parents are divorced so I would spend half of my life with my mom, and the other half with my dad. Growing up, I went to a school in a city where many neighborhoods are considered dangerous, with risks of trafficking or even getting shot. What threatened me more though, was what was in my own home. My stepdad just moved in with my mom. He was recovering from drug addiction and PTSD. He was very angry all the time. He sort of felt that he had to knock some sense into my brother and I, that we had to be adults even at 8 years old. My dad's house was not much better of a situation, he was an alcoholic and was never quite present. My home was falling apart- mold on the ceilings, no hot water, leaks in 5 different places. On top of that, I was the only one who cleaned. This continued until I was around 15 years old. I just felt trapped all the time in my life- at every turn I would get yelled at or have to put another bowl under the leaks in my house. I was embarrassed that I lived this way, I didn't even realize just how bad things were until it was over. I didn't want to live that way, but I wanted to make things better. Eventually, my dad got arrested so I lived with my mom full-time. Being in a situation where I felt trapped for much of my life, I was depressed. I think the main thing that helped me overcome these feelings of what my childhood was- was just time. I met with a therapist weekly for a year. We talked about how I felt about my dad, and my family, my love life, and even movies I enjoyed. I mainly just needed time to realize that I can grow from what happened, and that I am not trapped anymore. I always sort of took to the world for what I needed. Not in an asking people for help sort of way, but a looking at the stars sort of way. I would walk to a pond near me and look at the turtles, or lay in the grassy field a mile from where I live. I feel a lot better now. I would go on a walk every single night and look up and think "I feel nothing right now, but at least I don't feel bad?" and soon that turned into a gentle happiness, a sort of "yeah, there are some things to live for." Overcoming this did impact my future plans. Its like how every moment is a river, and it's eroding at what my original plans were. I want to be an environmental scientist. I want to get an education. I enjoy learning, I think that it would open a lot of doors for me. I don't ever want to live in an unstable place or lose my mind from drugs. I want to live with people I love and show them kindness. I want to help clean the world. or keep it clean somehow. Because the world is pure and wild, and wonderful. No matter what I have been through, I just want to be wonderful right back to it.

Nintendo has always been one of my favorite gaming brands because of the memories I have with it. It all started on my Wii console. My brother and I were 8 years old when we started to play Just dance, Super smash brothers, Mario kart, and Mario party, and Mii games. We slowly tried different systems. My grandma has a Nintendo-64 where my brother and I played racing USA, Winnie and the Pooh-Hunny Hunt, and Pokemon snap. We spent hours wanting the perfect picture of mew. My brother got the new Pokemon game every year for his 2DS, so I watched him play it every year. As a younger sibling, I have always been player 2. My brother guides me through caves and grasslands as Mario, attempting to speed run. The game that I feel brings many of these characters together is super smash brothers. Needless to say, favorite game to co-op is super smash brothers. I have played this game with friends in my classes, my best friends, and my brother. I played the Wii version with my cousins growing up, and I still play the Nintendo switch version today. I remember when my brother and I would pause the game and listen to the music, and look at the characters expressions, and how he has completely obliterated me in some challenges. I like how i have improved at the game over time- I used to just play as sonic and constantly use the same move but now I feel that I have more strategy. My most memorable moment with this gave is from when I made a custom stage where it was a box of lava with the spawn in the middle, and then we played with unlimited stocks to see what would happen. I guess it was just funny to see my brother get frustrated with not being able to choose if he could win or not. To conclude, I enjoy Nintendo games- especially playing super smash bothers with my friends. I have a change to improve my strategies, see what skills other people have to offer, and hopefully with the round. Thank you for your time and consideration.