Applications now being accepted for 2022 BRMC Scholarship

The Bill Raynor Micronesia Challenge Scholarship Fund is now accepting applications for individuals from Micronesia to undertake either a master’s or doctorate degree in any resource management/conservation field at various institutions within the Pacific region (including universities in Guam, Hawaii, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, and Japan) or in the U.S. mainland.

The scholarship is open for application to citizens of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, and the Marshall Islands. The application can be found on the MCT’s website: http://www.ourmicronesia.org/brmcs.html The closing date is May 15, 2022.

Each year, up to two students from the region will be selected through a competitive process and will be eligible to receive up to $30,000 per year for up to two years for the successful completion of a master’s program and up to three years for the successful completion of a PhD program. This scholarship is limited to one or two students per scholarship-round in order to provide the mentorship and guidance support that will be required to ensure the students’ long-term success.

Scholarship applicants are to focus on leadership and technical skills and/or majors that enhance their ability to carry out work in conservation, climate adaptation and sustainable development in Micronesia.

Awardees of this prestigious scholarship will receive financial support to earn graduate degrees while receiving close guidance and mentorship from key individuals within the Micronesia Challenge partnership, including members of the peer learning networks, Micronesians in Island Conservation and the Pacific Islands Managed and Protected Areas Community. The mentors/advisers are technical experts who have extensive experience in the fields of conservation, climate change adaptation and sustainable development in Micronesia/Pacific.

The BRMC Scholarship Fund committee will also make a good faith effort to place scholarship recipients in permanent positions when they graduate. To help ensure recipients are able to participate in Micronesia Challenge activities, either remotely or during breaks, awardees are required to study at universities within the Pacific region/rim or in the U.S. mainland and they must secure an agency that will commit to hosting them during their studies and one willing to hire the student as an intern after they complete their studies.

To date, the BRMC has supported 19 students. Ten have graduated and are in leading positions in their own home islands across Micronesia.

The Micronesia Conservation Trust and its Micronesia Challenge partners established the Bill Raynor Micronesia Challenge Scholarship Fund to honor the legacy of the late Bill Raynor, founder of conservation in Micronesia.

For more information on the BRMC Scholarship Program, contact:

Bertha Reyuw

MCT Capacity Building Program Manager

P.O. Box 2177, Kolonia, Pohnpei FM 96941

Phone: (691) 350-2092/950-2151

E-mail: capacity@ourmicronesia.org

For more information on the BRMC Scholarship Endowment, contact:

Willy Kostka

MCT Executive Director

P.O. Box 2177, Kolonia, Pohnpei FM 96941

Phone: (691) 320-5670/8903

E-mail: director@ourmicronesia.org (PR)