National Student Conservation Association Founder Recognized

October 6, 2007-Over the past 50 years, Elizabeth Titus Putnam founded and helped build the Student Conservation Association into the nation's largest natural resource conservation organization, based on a plan she devised in her senior year at Vassar College. On October 6, 2007 she will be presented with Sterling College's first Trustees' Environmental Leadership Award, during the President's Circle Dinner.

Putnam, a Shaftsbury, Vermont resident, has been nationally recognized for her ability to engage the energy, interests and idealism of young people in service to the environment and conservation. Her visionary work has been compared with Rachel Carson and other pioneer environmentalists. Thousands of young people have preserved or maintained trails, rebuilt eroded stream beds, conserved fragile wildlife habitats, and learned about environmental stewardship through the CSA.

When making the award, Sterling College leadership recognized the similarities between Putnam's interests and the College's mission, noting that Putnam's theory-into-action idea resonates with the College's focus on environmental and community stewardship and its student applied research project (SARP). The SARP is the College's capstone academic piece, required of all seniors. The projects have a direct benefit to the nonprofit organizations sponsoring the research.

When notified of the honor, Putnam expressed the foundation of her work with young leaders: "I believe that young people, given the right leadership, can accomplish almost anything. Teamwork is essential, but it is also having faith in each other that allows positive things to happen." She also acknowledged the College's "extraordinary leadership in environmental education, experiential learning, and stewardship."

To learn more about the Student Conservation Association, view their website at www.thesca.org.