Hudson County Student Receives Ron Vellekamp Scholarship

High Tech High School Senior Earns Hackensack Riverkeeper’s Top Honors

 

By Hugh M. Carola

Timothy DenHerder-Thomas of Jersey City is this year’s recipient of the $1,000 Ron Vellekamp Environmental Scholarship. Now in its fifth year, the program was created to recognize exceptional and environmentally conscious college-bound seniors from towns and schools within the Hackensack River watershed. The scholarship is named in honor of a dear friend and Trustee of Hackensack Riverkeeper who left us far too soon. Timothy, a graduate of High Tech High School in North Bergen, joins a stellar group of scholars whom we are most proud to call our own.

“I couldn’t believe it when Hughie told me we had 14 applications,” said Captain Bill Sheehan, executive director, Hackensack Riverkeeper, referring to this year’s record-breaking number. “Then I was shocked to learn that five of our applicants were straight-A students.”

Not only was it obvious that we had a real “cream of the crop” group of applicants including three soon-to-be Ivy Leaguers, we also had an incredible group of conscientious and active young people. Needless to say, choosing one for the honor was not an easy thing to do. Fortu-nately, Timothy made it a little easier for us.

First off, his lowest final grade in any of his classes was an A. Next, his list of environmental extracurricular activities was the most extensive we had ever read and it’s literally too long to include in this article. Here are just a few highlights:

• This spring, Tim led the High Tech H.S. Envirothon team to victory in that statewide environmental science competition.
• He successfully advocated for the creation of a new Environmental Science class at High Tech which supplements the weekly Enviro-thon meetings.
• Timothy planned and executed his school’s first-ever Earth Day celebration.
• He coordinated several petition and letter-writing campaigns which energized hundreds of people to issues surrounding old growth forests and our nation’s dependence on oil.

What really amazed us was his essay. It was the shortest one we received – only 155 words – but obviously written by someone wise beyond his years. For the benefit of those who – myself included – are sometimes tempted to dismiss young people based on what we think we know about them, please take the time to read Tim’s essay (see below). I’m sure you will learn a true lesson from this remarkable young man.

This fall, Timothy will be attending Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota – one of only 480 incoming freshmen chosen from among 4,400 applicants. He plans to study urban planning and environmental law.

 

All of us at Hackensack Riverkeeper wish him all the best!

 

With Life By Timothy DenHerder-Thomas I see a bird taking wing. I climb a mountain. I walk among beggars or pass a neighborly super mending a fence. I learn to love the world. Yet sprawl engulfs birds in forest destruction and urban decay, exhaustive resource development ruins the land, leaving local people helpless, and city-dwellers rarely watching trees growing, pigeons wheeling or the changing sky. Environmentalism should not only inform the public and create constructive policies, but renew people with a new life lived with the earth. Working for a better human connection with the environment and better environmental conditions encompasses many fields of work; my clearest career-based goal is to mend some brokenness between and within myself, others and the living world. I will choose urban planning, wilderness or recreation work, environmental law, advocacy, research, teaching, writing and more as necessary. My ideal life combines many of these, each meaningful and each a part of building a better world.