Overview

Each year, NewSun invites high school seniors from Sherman, Crook, Lake, Klamath, Wasco, Gilliam, and Harney counties to write an 800-1200 word essay about how climate change, renewable energy and other factors are affecting their community, including ranching and farming.

Essay and Selection Review Process

A scholarship review committee comprised of local and state elected officials, nonprofit and community leaders, and the NewSun team read and score essays. The four students with the highest scoring essays are awarded $2,500 scholarships. Honorable mention awards are distributed at the discretion of the review committee.

Essay Prompt

Agriculture faces unique exposures to climate change because ranching and farming businesses, lives, and communities are inextricably linked to weather. Daily and annual operations, experiences, and finances are impacted by both the positive benefits and challenging consequences. Shifts in weather patterns vary from region to region and include changes in volumes or timing of precipitation, temperature extremes, frequencies and duration of extreme weather events, and impacts on water availability. The costs of dealing with these changes and extreme weather events are having a significant impact on ranching communities in Oregon, and throughout the country and the world.

We invite students consider the above and reflect on how climate change, renewable energy, and related changes currently, or may in the future, affect their community, including ranching and farming practices or other related impacts. Students are encouraged to discuss these issues with family, friends, or community members to learn from their perspectives. 

History

Since the program was launched in 2023, NewSun has awarded a total of $23,000 to students from Harney, Crook, Klamath, Lake, Wasco, and Sherman Counties. Congratulations to all of the Climate & Ag Scholarship awardees below.