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By Angie Hamlet, 亚洲色吧 Freelance Writer

As a child, Sue Aagaard followed her grandfather to homes around Crystal Lake, tasked with dropping colored tablets into the plumbing. She would then race to the dock to stand beside him, watching the water for any sign of dye.

鈥淢y grandfather was one of the people that was really pushing for a sewer system,鈥� she said.听

It worked. The system was installed, and in the 1970鈥檚 the lake went from one of the dirtiest in the state to one of the cleanest.听

It was an early lesson in what conservation can achieve. Love for nature, a common thread in her family, continued for Aagaard through the years, even as she pursued a career as a speech pathologist, first with 亚洲色吧 Area Intermediate School District, then Central 亚洲色吧 Public Schools.听

鈥淓ducation is really important to me,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 was also raised caring about the environment.鈥�

The combined interests led her to recently create The 亚洲色吧F Sue Ann Aagaard Scholarship. The award supports students with an interest in environmental or agricultural work to attend The Stewardship Network Conference. The group equips and mobilizes people caring for land and water.

Aagaard鈥檚 involvement in Wild Ones River City, 亚洲色吧 Conservation District, 亚洲色吧 Area Master Gardener Association, West Michigan Conservation Network and Flat River Watershed group has immersed her in the world of environmental work and its various opportunities. Many acquaintances and friends have shared stories of discovering their interest in environmental science later in life and the struggles that came with the shift.

鈥淲hen I talked to those people I was thinking, 鈥極kay, how can we help young people not have to experience this?鈥� she said. 鈥淚f you get them on the right trajectory in the first place, what a gift. They don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 out there. I was going to leave money to the college anyway, and I thought 鈥榃hy wait?... If I do it now I can see the end game.鈥欌��

Most recently, inaugural scholarship recipients attended the conference in Lansing. For the students, the experience came with invaluable connections and new career path options.

鈥淚 think it was really eye-opening for them, just the exposure,鈥� Aagaard said. 鈥淚 want them to understand the diversity of types of jobs they can get and what鈥檚 available with different degrees.鈥�

She said it鈥檚 often graduate-level students participating in conferences, but there is value for first-year college students facing decisions on what career path to take. 鈥淎 lot of people also talk about how they started somewhere, but switched jobs as they gained exposure to other things鈥eople move around, and there's a lot more to move around in now.鈥�

Environmental work and agriculture are tied closely together with a lot of exchange between the two fields, so it was a natural inclusion for the opportunity.

The scholarship stands apart from most, funding a professional development opportunity instead of tuition. It鈥檚 not Aagaard鈥檚 first experience giving to the college. As part of her work with the master gardener program, she also led the effort to create a three-and-a-half-acreeducational pollinator prairie and bird habitat on the college鈥檚 Sidney campus.

鈥淢y friends and I are doing a lot of work in environmental restoration and preservation,and we want to see these younger people coming in that are gonna take over when we鈥檙e not doing that anymore,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou want strong leaders coming up鈥� Everybody鈥檚 life depends on it.鈥�

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