Every year SPAT awards a $10,000 scholarship to a deserving Nauset Regional High School (NRHS) senior who chooses to pursue a career in the marine sciences. The award is distributed in increments of $2500 for each year the student continues his/her studies and maintains a grade point of 2.5 up to four years. Thus, every year a total of $10,000 is awarded to four students currently participating in the scholarship program.
This commitment has contributed to the launching of exciting professional careers and has played an important part in encouraging students to further their education, foster their entrepreneurial spirit and realize their career aspirations. To date, over $152,500 has been awarded to the following awardees.
Students interested in applying for this scholarship should speak with their guidance counselors at NRHS.
Information on the Community Grant Award Program here.
2020 Sasha LaPointe of Wellfleet
Keeping the ocean clean and its organisms healthy is a priority for Sasha. She has already begun studying Salt & Freshwater Eco Systems, and Oceanography. She will use her scholarship to attend Eckerd College in Saint Petersburg, Florida where she will prepare for a career in Aquaculture.
2020 Kieran Norton of Brewster
Kieran is ‘enthralled with the ocean’ and he loves the oyster. As an accomplished commercial fisherman, he already has a deep understanding of the fisheries industry and he brings that knowledge to his plans to study environmental engineering at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. He promises to bring his education back to Cape Cod and help innovate the aquaculture industry.
2019 Olivia Pickard of Wellfleet
Olivia was ‘raised on salt air and has the ocean in her blood’. Committed to aquaculture and sustainable farming, she attends Salve Regina University majoring in Marketing to help promote ‘Wellfleet’s Finest’ and ensure a stable shellfish market for generations to come.
2019 Benjamin Morgan of Wellfleet
Ben has grown up fishing and plans to pursue a livelihood in aquaculture. Ben has enrolled in the Cape Cod Community College where he takes business classes to support his success in this field.
2018 Dylan McDonough of Wellfleet
His passion for fly fishing has inspired Dylan’s decision to study Natural Resources Conservation, Fisheries Ecology and Environmental Studies at the University of Vermont. He’s looking forward to conducting research around the world.
2017 Benjamin Pickard of Wellfleet
A commercial lobsterman since the age of 16, Ben comes from a family of shellfishermen. He attends Roger Williams University with a double major in Marine Biology and Aquaculture.
2016 Mary Doucette of Brewster
Passionate about the coastal ecosystem since a young age, Mary is studying marine biology at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg Florida. Mary hopes to continue her studies and eventually earn her PhD.
2015 Iris Pickard of Wellfleet
A 4th generation fisherman, Iris enrolled in Roger Williams University in Rhode Island to pursue a degree in Marine Biology and Aquaculture. With 80% of the world’s oceans yet to be explored, Iris plans to help ‘unearth the waters’ findings!
2014 Sam Pickard of Wellfleet
Sam got his own shellfish license when he was 12 and actively helps his family on their shellfish grant on Egg Island. He enrolled at the University of Rhode Island and has been accepted into their Ocean Engineering Program.
2013 Zachary Morgan of Eastham
Zach has family roots in the shellfishing industry. He majors in international business at St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire with hopes of applying this knowledge toward the fishing trade.
2012 Jamie Fitzgerald of Wellfleet
Jamie has had a life-long interest in the environment and has volunteered with Mass Audubon and Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown MA. Jamie majors in Environmental Science at Tulane University in Louisiana in order to expand her knowledge of marine ecology and biology. She is considering a career in Environmental Law so that she may use her understanding of the natural world to help protect the environment.
2011 Keenan Yakola of Eastham
Keenan attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a concentration in environmental studies. Upon graduation, his goal is to work with the National Park Service managing coastal estuaries and protecting fragile environments.
2010 Nathan Quinn of Eastham
Quinn discovered a passion for the environment while studying natural sciences and Cape Cod ecosystems in high school. These studies led him to pursue a degree in environmental science, and upon graduation, he plans to return to the Cape to put his knowledge to work.
2009 Max Tringale of Orleans
Tringale went to boat-building school in Maine with plans to return to the Cape post graduation to build boats for shellfishermen and other seafarers who make a living in our waters.
2008 Henry Valdez of Wellfleet
Valdez attended Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island, to study culinary arts and invent creative new shellfish recipes.
2007 Allison Baker of Wellfleet
Baker attended Boston’s Simmons College to study public relations and marketing. She hoped to put her degree towards a marketing campaign to promote Wellfleet’s aquaculture industry.
2006 Jacob Puffer of Wellfleet
Puffer graduated from Boston’s Emmanuel College with a business degree and is now helping to run his family’s aquaculture business. He has been serving on the Board of SPAT for the last two years.