Conservation Scholarship Application Process Is Open

provided to The Santiva Chronicle

Earlier this year, the “Ding” Darling Wildlife Society-Friends of the Refuge (DDWS) awarded more than $32,000 in environmental studies scholarships to 14 deserving students. At the end of the 2025-26 school year, the nonprofit expects to distribute comparable college funding for a new round of applications that opens Dec. 8, 2025. Deadline for applications is Feb. 28, 2026.

Ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 each, the scholarships are available to high school seniors, college students, and graduate students in or from Lee, Collier, Charlotte, Hendry, and Glades counties pursuing degrees in environmental-related studies.

Although named scholarships fluctuate year to year, DDWS expects to meet or exceed last year’s totals. Scholarships awarded in 2025 included the following:

• Mary Elaine Jacobson Memorial Scholarship
• Jane Werner Environmental Scholarships (two)
• Dr. H. Randall Deming Scholarship for Conservation and Environmental Studies
• Kent & Sharon Jager Scholarship
• Dr. Andrew & Laura Dahlem Scholarship
• Win & Marilyn Kloosterman Scholarships (two)
• Fleischner Family Scholarships (two)
• Barry & Francine Litofsky Scholarship
• “Ding” Darling Conservation Scholarship
• Tarpon Bay Explorers Scholarship
• Mike and Terry Baldwin Scholarship

DDWS will award the scholarships at a special ceremony at the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island in May 2026. Now in its 21st year, the DDWS scholarship program presented its first awards in 2006, donated by Tarpon Bay Explorers, the refuge’s official recreation concession. To date, the DDWS Environmental Scholarship Program has awarded a total of $327,800.

Interested students can find more information and printable application forms here.

To learn more about the scholarship program and establishing a named scholarship, contact Ann-Marie Wildman at wildman@dingdarlingsociety.org.

ABOUT DDWS
As a non-profit 501(c)3 organization, DDWS works to support J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge’s mission of conservation, wildlife and habitat protection, research, and public education through charitable donations and Refuge Nature Shop profits. To support DDWS and the refuge with a tax-deductible gift, visit dingdarlingsociety.org or Ann-Marie Wildman at 239-789-8991 or wildman@dingdarlingsociety.org.