Cook Inlet RCAC awards $5000 in scholarships   

Winning students are first recipients under CIRCAC’s new scholarship program

May 11, 2015—Kenai, Alaska—Cook Inlet Regional Citizens Advisory Council (CIRCAC) has selected two Alaskan students to receive a $2500 scholarship each under its new scholarship program, inaugurated to coincide with the organization’s 25^th Anniversary.

Under the program, CIRCAC developed two distinct scholarships: one to advance careers in environmental studies and named after former long-time board member, the late James Carter; and the other to advance careers in maritime studies and named after a dedicated committee volunteer, the late Captain Barry Eldridge. Both men were the epitome of generosity and professionalism in their service and commitment to the Council and its mission.

This year’s most qualified applicants were matched with the 2015 CIRCAC/James Carter Memorial Scholarship for Environmental Studies:

Kristina Benson – a second-year geology student from Anchorage, attending the University of Alaska, Anchorage; and Annie Looman – a graduating senior from Kodiak High School. Annie plans on attending the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, to pursue a degree in Environmental Studies

The goal of the CIRCAC Scholarship Program is to heighten public interest and awareness in the work being done by CIRCAC and its partners to ensure responsible development and to encourage students to consider becoming future stewards of Cook Inlet’s waters. The winning students were selected from a list of applicants by a review committee comprised of three members of CIRCAC’s Board of Directors.

CIRCAC is celebrating 25 years as a nonprofit corporation organized exclusively for the oversight, monitoring, assessing and evaluation of oil spill prevention, safety and response plans, terminal and oil tanker operations, and environmental impacts of oil tanker and oil terminal operations in Cook Inlet. The council consists of 13 members representing boroughs, cities and municipalities, as well as Alaska Native, commercial fishing, aquaculture, tourism, recreational and environmental groups in the Cook Inlet region. In pursuing our mandates under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90), the Council strives to help protect the environment, fisheries, economic vitality, and recreational interests of Cook Inlet.

For more information about CIRCAC’s scholarship program, visit https://www.circac.org/outreach/scholarship-program/

Contact: Lynda Giguere, Director of Public Outreach, 907-398- 6205, giguere@circac.org