By Maegan Murray, WSU Tri-Cities
SEATTLE – Three Washington State University Tri-Cities students will be honored today with the Washington Campus Compact Presidents’ Award as part of the statewide Students Serving Washington Awards program 3-5 p.m. at the Museum of Flight in Seattle.
The award recognizes students at Washington Campus Compact (http://www.wacampuscompact.org/) member institutions who have exhibited exceptional leadership and commitment to serving their communities.
WSU Tri-Cities Chancellor Keith Moo-Young said the awardees are outstanding examples of students using their WSU educational opportunities to better their communities and the environment.
“From building a house for a family that spent years in poverty in a refugee camp, to expanding upon WSU Tri-Cities’ mission for sustainable practices, to researching means to improve crops in times of climate change, these students are taking advantage of opportunities for service leadership and changing lives for the better,” he said.
The WSU Tri-Cities honorees are:
Brent Ellis, a senior environmental science student who is also up for the Outstanding Service Award from Washington Campus Compact. He has led construction efforts for the Coug House, a home that WSU Tri-Cities is building for a family of Burmese refugees in partnership with Tri-County Partners Habitat for Humanity.
Elinor Lake, a junior biological sciences student who is the WSU Tri-Cities environmental club president and a finalist for the national Udall Undergraduate Scholarship. She is helping organize a redesign of the campus recycling program and is leading efforts with the club for cleanup days around the mid-Columbia region.
Melanie Ford, a sophomore viticulture and enology student who is working on ways to overcome climate change. She spent the last several years studying its effects on ecosystems in New Zealand cave environments. At WSU Tri-Cities, she researches climate change’s impacts on Washington agriculture, specifically wine and table grapes.
Contacts:
Maegan Murray, WSU Tri-Cities public relations specialist, 509-372-7333, maegan.murray@tricity.wsu.edu
