Save the Mesa awards $5,000 (Adobe Press)

Friday June 11, 2004

By Adobe Staff

Save the Mesa recently awarded three scholarships totaling $5,000 to Nipomo-area high school seniors, said a spokeswoman for the organization.

Kelsey Theriot received $2,500 for her essay titled "Preserving Paradise." Meghan Girvin and Brooke Boehning were each awarded $1,250 for their environmental essays.

The three students, awarded the scholarships at the May 26 Senior Awards Night in the Clark Center for the Performing Arts in Arroyo Grande, were also honored at the June 5 Save the Mesa educational meeting at the Dana Adobe.

Kelsey will study architecture at Cuesta College and Cal Poly.

In her essay, she observed that "People from more urbanized areas have discovered our little slice of paradise and wish to make it their own. And who can blame them?"

She continued, "The stewardship of our beautiful community belongs to the people who live here. We must preserve our environment by carefully planning open space to protect the habitats of animals and humans alike. Open space must have natural protection for wild animals and limited designated trails for human enjoyment and recreation."

Meghan's essay agreed, saying, "There are limited resources on the Nipomo Mesa, and they need to be shared with the wildlife that were originally there. There are many places to build a house or gas station or coffee shop on the Central Coast, but there are very few areas to find forests of pine, sycamore and oak, picturesque landscapes and native beauty. We should treasure and embrace this rare place of beauty by not letting it be overcome by more houses, gas stations and coffee shops and becoming just like any other Southern California area. It will be worth it in the end."

Meghan will attend Cal State, Sacramento.

Brooke, a future English major at Cal State, Sacramento, noted, "We may not be ready for a solar power plant or cars (that) run on vegetable oil, but it is never too early to set people up for large changes with less drastic ones. Each day we fail to realize that the Earth is ours to take care of, is a day wasted. The environment is our responsibility and the time to preserve it is now." Δ