Mission
The Henry David Thoreau Foundation is a catalyst to action. We invest in the future of our planet by providing scholarships and grants to encourage, support, and sustain the work of young environmental leaders.
Since 1999 the Thoreau Foundation has provided more than $7 million to support environmental work. Each year we award scholarships to outstanding Massachusetts high school seniors – the next wave of environmental leaders who will pursue interdisciplinary environmental studies in college and beyond. We also fund visionary programs at U.S. colleges and universities, forging alliances with professors, strengthening our environmental network, and extending our impact.
Today, nearly two hundred Henry David Thoreau Scholar alumni are working around the world, seeking functional solutions to local and global environmental challenges. More than thirty Thoreau Scholars are currently earning undergraduate degrees, the best and the brightest of recent Massachusetts high school graduates assisted by the foundation’s four-year scholarships. And dozens of ground-breaking collegiate initiatives have been incubated and accelerated through our faculty grants.
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Meet Our Scholars
Don’t limit your path to one organism or one question. Be curious. Find people who support your interests. When I enrolled at Cornell I was majoring in Biology taking lots of pre-med classes. I took an elective on natural resources with a faculty member who convinced me to double major in Biology and Natural Resources. That support helped me understand how the hard sciences apply to conservation, which is how I got to where I am today.