Wrenn Cleary has been selected as a Rotary Global Scholar for 2023-2024. DG Stacy Graham presented Wrenn with her scholarship grant of $30,000 at our Nevada City Rotary Club's Social on Thursday July 6. District 5190, Nevada City Rotary, and 49er Breakfast Rotary are proud to co-sponsor Wrenn as she pursues a Master of Science with a focus in Water Science, Policy and Management at Oxford University starting in September. The Rotary Club of Abingdon Vesper in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, UK, will serve as her in-country host Club.About Wrenn Cleary
Wrenn’s scholarship activities will support her goal of protecting and restoring land, coastal, marine, and freshwater resources. During her studies at Oxford, she intends to examine water conservation, water quality, sanitation, watershed management and transitions to sustainable infrastructure.Wrenn is most passionate about aquatic ecology and sustainable water management. An avid environmental water scientist, Wrenn Cleary currently serves as a Sierra Nevada AmeriCorps Partnership (SNAP) member working with South Yuba River Citizens League (SYRCL) as the River Monitoring Coordinator.
As an environmental science student at the University of Lynchburg, Wrenn has been quoted as saying “Conserving our environment allows for my generation and future generations to appreciate the beauty of the natural world and the influence we can have in preserving this world.”
Her thesis for Lynchburg University’s Honors College examined the role of a man-made lake in the surrounding watershed and the ecological effects from the lake’s dam failure and subsequent draining. After her sophomore year, she had an internship studying water quality in Costa Rica. To obtain a GIS Professional Certification, Wrenn collected data on desalination plants across the islands in the southern Aegean Sea of Greece and translated raw data into visually engaging cartography. After graduation, Wrenn served as a GIS Technician for the Environmental Department of the National Guard in Arkansas.
Wrenn constantly seeks opportunities to disseminate scientific knowledge and advance sustainable water practices.
The Rotary Foundation Global Grant Scholarships
The Rotary Foundation has scholarships available for graduate degree programs abroad. Rotary considers candidates who have been accepted in an international university program in one of the following seven areas of focus:
- Peace and conflict prevention
- Disease prevention and treatment
- Water, sanitation and hygiene
- Maternal and child health
- Basic education and literacy
- Community and economic development
- Environment