Sara Shallenberger Brown Garden Club of America National Parks Conservation Scholarship

Kick-Start Your Conservation Career

The Student Conservation Association is now accepting applications for the 2026 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. Application Deadline: 11:59 p.m. Feb. 2, 2026. Learn more and apply below.

A Partnership With Deep Roots

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. 

Plant The Seeds And Watch Them Grow

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.