Wake County awards environmental education scholarships to two students

Wake County is investing in its next generation of environmental leaders by awarding the 2026 Sheila B. Jones Environmental Education Scholarship to two college students with plans that reach beyond campus and into local communities. Amarion Singletary, a student at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, and Hanna Camptella, a student at North Carolina State University, each received a $1,000 award to support their academic work and the paths they are building in conservation, teaching and public stewardship.

The scholarship is administered by the Friends of the Wake Soil and Water Conservation District and is open to college students in North Carolina who either live in Wake County or attend a Wake County university. Wake County said Singletary hopes to bridge the environmental education gap between urban and rural communities, while Camptella wants to channel restless kids into the next generation of conservationists. The county has framed those ambitions as part of a broader effort to build a workforce that can strengthen conservation education as the region grows.

Singletary said his interest in environmental education grew through programs such as the Resource Conservation Workshop and Envirothon, which helped shape his interest in conservation and outreach. He said he wants to create opportunities for students to engage with the environment in meaningful ways and to better understand where natural resources come from and why protecting them matters for long-term sustainability. Camptella said she wants to become an environmental educator so she can help children with lots of energy turn that drive toward careers in environmental science or conservation.

Commissioner Tara Waters said both students are already taking consistent action to become impactful educators and improve their communities, and that they represent the kind of next-generation leadership the scholarship was created to support. That focus reflects the purpose of the award itself, which Wake County launched in honor of Sheila B. Jones, a longtime employee of the Wake Soil and Water Conservation District. The county’s scholarship page says special consideration goes to applicants who have faced significant barriers to obtaining education in environmental education and to those who plan to work in Wake County.

The scholarship has quickly become a recurring part of the county’s environmental education calendar. Wake County first announced winners in 2024, when six students applied and two $1,000 scholarships went to Addisu Serba of NC State University and Dae Borg of Appalachian State University. In 2025, the county awarded the scholarship to Paige Meadows, a junior at NC State from Henderson. The next application cycle will open in January 2027, and the recipient or recipients will again be invited to meet Friends of Wake SWCD board members in June for the presentation.