The Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin awarded 17 scholarships to undergraduate environmental studies students as part of its new scholars program to integrate classroom and community learning.

The Community Environmental Scholars Program aims to build a “cohort experience” for students to work with one another and their surrounding communities on environmental projects and issues, Molly Schwebach, outreach specialist at the Nelson Institute, said.

“A lot of students… want these experiences so they can apply their knowledge, learning and environmental studies out in the community,” Schwebach said.

Spending time in the community enables students to apply topics and skills in the classroom to hands on experiences, allowing the classroom information “to come alive,” said Carmela Diosana, student services coordinator for the Nelson Institute.

With recipients of the need-based scholarship mostly including underrepresented and first -generation students, Diosana said the CESP aims to create a more diverse community of students in the environmental studies program.

The program consists of students with a variety of backgrounds and experiences, she said. For example, it would like to have students raised in both cities and on farms because they have different points of view.

“By bringing those different voices to the table, it is going to help us shape how we look at environmental studies,” she said. “Now, by having more voices we can look at problems in more than one way.”

Every spring, the Nelson Institute awards environmental studies students with scholarships for the following academic year, Schwebach said.

To continue to fund student scholarships, the Nelson Institute will receive $100,000 annually from Wisconsin’s Normal School Trust Fund through the state Board of Commissioners of Public Lands, she said.

Currently, Morgridge Center Challenge Grants also help to provide funding to build additional components of the CESP, including three newly developed capstone experience courses focused on students working in the community, Schwebach said.

A capstone experience course is required as part of the 26 credits needed for an environmental studies certificate, she said. Students in the CESP will have first choice for the new courses offered next spring.

Schwebach added starting in the fall, scholars will also participate in a one-credit seminar course about using leadership skills and environmental studies in the community.

Students will have the opportunity to work within the community to meet a community need while also achieving their own learning goals, she said.

UW senior and scholarship recipient Evan Gutierrez said he and other student scholars recently spent time with board members from the Nelson Institute providing feedback and discussing options for the design of an environmental studies major.

Gutierrez said the program is long overdue to become a major.

“Wisconsin is pretty much the innovator of environmental science, how the hell do we not have an environmental studies major?” he said.

After a one-credit introductory course initially sparked an interest in environmental studies at UW, Gutierrez said he will continue to pursue the subject at Oregon State University when he graduates in May.