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2024 Mary Majka Scholarship Recipients

Nature NB and the Mary Majka Scholarship Fund committee are pleased to announce the three winners of this year’s Mary Majka Scholarship, awarded to students at any stage of their education who will be pursuing projects and programs in the realms of environmental science, conservation, biology, or other subjects that seek to better understand and protect our natural world. The awards were announced at Nature NB’s Annual General Meeting, held at NBCC in Woodstock, NB on June 7, 2024.

The Mary Majka Scholarship Fund was created in June of 2014 to honour the legacy of Mary Majka, one of Nature NB’s founding members and its President from 1980-84. The Fund’s purpose is to further youth engagement with nature and our natural heritage, one of Mary’s primary interests.

Three types of scholarship are offered:

  • Category 1 is open to high school graduates about to start post-secondary studies in the field of natural sciences with an interest in nature and the environment. This would be conveyed as a study scholarship.
  • Category 2 is available to post-secondary students already enrolled in the field of natural sciences with an interest in nature and the environment. This would also be conveyed as a study scholarship.
  • Category 3 could be awarded to students in middle or high school wanting to further their knowledge in the natural sciences and would be given as a contribution to cover specific expenses such as a special project, study course or participation in a workshop.

Thirty-one students applied by the March 2024 deadline. The Committee met in late May to review and evaluate the applications and determine the awards that might be possible, given the quality of the applications.

The Committee recommended that, in Category 1, a $1,000 study scholarship be awarded in 2024 to Ruby Brewer of Quispamsis, and that in Category 2, $1,000 study scholarships be awarded to Emma Fackenthall of Penniac, and to Chy Anna Nickerson of Fredericton.

Ruby BrewerRuby Brewer will graduate Kennebecasis High School in Quispamsis this June and has been accepted to the and Holland College for the North American Wildlife Technology Association (NAWTA) diploma and for a bachelor’s degree in wildlife conservation at University of Prince Edward Island. She plans then to complete a master’s degree with the University of Miami at the San Diego Zoo as part of their Dragonfly Project, and bring her experience home to share what she has worked hard to learn and absorb during that time.
Emma FackenthallEmma Fackenthall is in her third year at St Thomas University where she will graduate in 2025 in Environment and Society and plans to pursue graduate studies in environmental education and sustainability. She has been working on her second SSHRC-funded research project on climate action and energy technologies. As a part-time early childhood educator since 2019, she is  particularly interested in how fostering strong human-nature relations during some of our most influential years can help create future generations of eco-conscious individuals.
Chy Anna NickersonChy Anna Nickerson is currently enrolled in the Forest Technology program with the Maritime College of Forest Technology, and will be enrolled in the Advanced Fish and Wildlife program starting August 2024. This program is an additional program to Forest Technology. Chy Also has a summer position with Birds Canada as a Southwestern Nova Scotia Beach Bird Stewardship Assistant. She is passionate about environmental conservation and looks forward to leading our increasingly human-dominated world into a path of restoration and preservation.

Nature NB is proud to support Ruby, Emma, and Chy Anna in their studies and congratulates them on their accomplishments to date.

Donations to the Mary Majka Scholarship Fund can be made online, by cheque, or in-person through the Nature NB office at 61 Carleton Street, Suite 3, Fredericton NB, E3B 3T2. More information is available here.

Nature NB is a New Brunswick non-profit, charitable organization and charitable receipts are issued.

Tony Diamond
Chair, Mary Majka Scholarship Fund Committee

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