Keep Massachusetts Beautiful has awarded its 2024 Next-Gen Environmental Leader Scholarship to Maddie Kempton, 18, of Holden.
KMB’s annual Next-Gen Environmental Leader Scholarship supports a Massachusetts high school senior student who plans to pursue a degree or certificate in environmental studies or a related field at an accredited institution of higher learning.
Kempton is pursuing a degree in Environmental Science at Westfield State University starting this fall.
“We recognize that in order to protect our environment in the future, a new generation of young people will need to lead the way,” said Neil Rhein, executive director of Keep Massachusetts Beautiful. “This scholarship supports students who have demonstrated a commitment to environmental protection, environmental justice, community service, and to improving the environmental health or sustainability of their local community or Massachusetts as a whole.”
Kempton graduated from Norfolk County Agricultural High School in Walpole in the spring of 2024, where she focused on environmental science. She interned with the Trustees of the Reservations. Over the course of six weeks, Kempton and her classmates traveled all over the state of Massachusetts to maintain Trustees’ properties, from the sandy shores of Provincetown to the woodlands of Medway and the salt marshes of Ipswich. She also volunteered at the Wachusett Watershed Regional Recycling Center, where she restocked shelves and unpacked boxes of donated household goods.
“I am so honored to be awarded the Next-Gen Environmental Leader Scholarship and appreciate the financial support from Keep Massachusetts Beautiful,” said Kempton. “My current interests in environmental science are within environmental law and policy. Someday, I hope to work with the National Park Service or with the Bureau of Land Management.”
Learn more about KMB's Next-Gen Environmental Leader Scholarship
