The Student Conservation Association is now accepting applications for the 2025 Sara Shallenberger Brown National Parks Conservation Scholarship. Designed to support aspiring conservation leaders, this scholarship is for college or graduate students enrolled in a U.S.-based institution. Recipient(s) will be placed in one of two SCA leadership positions based in Washington, D.C.
Now Accepting Applications
The SCA is seeking a Field Leader (age 21+) to supervise and train the Rock Creek Park Summer Youth Crew based in Washington, DC. The crew will consist of one field leader, one assistant leader, and six high school-age crew members who engage in conservation work, including trail building, invasive species management and erosion control in various sections of Rock Creek Park.
The Field Leader will train crew members in conservation work skills and environmental stewardship, foster teamwork, communicate with agency partners and manage work projects to ensure their completion.
The Field Leader will transport the crew daily using an SCA rental van after passing the required safety checks.
Program Dates: June 23, 2025 – Aug. 22, 2025
Pay: $850/wk. plus $45/mo. cell phone stipend
Apply Now
The SCA is seeking an Assistant Field Leader (age 18+) to supervise and train the Rock Creek Park Summer Youth Crew based in Washington, DC. The crew will consist of one field leader, one assistant leader, and six high school-age crew members who engage in conservation work, including trail building, invasive species management and erosion control in various sections of Rock Creek Park.
The Assistant Field Leader will help manage field tasks, support crew members in learning conservation work skills and support the Field Leader in handling logistics and communication.
Program Dates: June 23, 2025 – Aug. 15, 2025
Pay: $18/hr. 40 hours/wk.
Apply Now
The SCA and the Garden Club of America have a long history of partnership and collaboration. SCA founder Liz Putnam, a longtime member of the Garden Club of America in Bennington, Vermont, presented her earliest plans for a student conservation corps to the Club in 1956.
Since becoming one of the organization’s earliest sponsors, the Garden Club of America and its member clubs from around the country have given the SCA over $1 million in financial support.
Garden Clubs contribute to the SCA in numerous ways, from sharing the proceeds of plant sales to working alongside SCA members on trail restoration, invasive plant removal, and other critical conservation and habitat improvement projects in parks and green spaces nationwide.
Established in 2010, the Sara Shallenberger Brown National Parks Scholarship honors the memory of the late environmentalist Sara Shallenberger Brown. Beginning in 1939, Brown was an active and influential member of the Garden Club of America in Louisville, Kentucky, who gave many years of service to environmental issues and conservation organizations on a local, national and global level.
The scholarship aims to encourage study and further careers in the field of conservation, with the opportunity to protect, enhance, and gain knowledge and experience for the lasting benefit of the U.S. National Parks. The goal of the scholarship is to provide a college or graduate student enrolled in a U.S.-based institution with the skills and field experience necessary to become a future leader in conservation.
The Sara Brown National Parks Scholarship will fund at least one (or more) SCA Field Leader, Assistant Field Leader, and/or Apprentice position annually.
Field Leaders will support, encourage, and mentor high school crews engaged in hands-on conservation projects. Apprentices will work under the direct oversight of a land management agency or organization to address specific needs, such as field data collection and management, visitor interpretation and education, and direct service work that maintains trails and improves habitats.
