WISCASSET — Chewonki Foundation has named the 2023 recipients of the Maine Youth Environmental Leaders Scholarships, a $15,000 award to two high school juniors with a passion for environmental stewardship and creating positive change in their home communities.

This year’s scholarship recipients are Bay Nadeau of Searsport (fall 2023) and Kaethe Rice of Waterville (spring 2024).

Nadeau is a self-proclaimed naturalist often referred to by his friends as a “walking field guide,” according to a Chewonki news release. When he isn’t participating in student council or acting in theater productions at Searsport High School, he can be found volunteering for the Heron Observation Network of Maine, gardening, paddling, or exploring with his nature journal in hand.

Rice is a passionate activist from Waterville Senior High School. Ever since freshman year, she has dedicated her time both in and out of school to climate advocacy. Despite being in her sophomore year, Kate’s list of contributions to her community is long — she is class president and a student council representative, the vice president of an active green club at her school, a member of the Hardy Girls Healthy Women Feminist Action Board, a youth representative for the Defend our Health Action C4 Board, and she was recently elected to be a co-leader for Maine youth for the Climate Justice High School Support Cohort.

Maine Coast Semester at Chewonki is a semester-long academically rigorous residential program. Learning takes place in classrooms, in the field, on the coast, at the farm, in the forest, and on extended backcountry expeditions. Side by side with their instructors, participants explore the concepts behind human ecology — the intersection between humans and their natural, social and built environments.

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