Wally's Scholarship Contest 2025

Wally's

Service Project Scholarship

The Friends and family of Wally Niezguski, with the Clarkston Family Farm (CFF), are pleased to announce the third annual Wally’s Service Project Scholarship. This scholarship commemorates the life and legacy of Wally Niezguski, a long-term organic gardener, nature lover, and avid supporter of the CFF.

Our 2025 contest encourages young people to become active in their home communities by asking them to design a service project/event that benefits the whole community, a specific community population (e.g., the food insecure, people with disabilities, the elderly), or the local environment. The contest is open to high school juniors and seniors in the Avondale, Brandon, Clarkston, Goodrich, Lake Orion, Oxford and Waterford School Districts planning to attend college or vocational school. Homeschool high school students in any of these school districts are also eligible to participate. The scholarship committee will encourage the contest awardee(s) to present their service project/event proposal to the appropriate local government or organizations for implementation consideration.

The money provided to the contest's awardee(s) will increase their chance for a successful transition from high school to college or vocational school. Learn more about the Clarkston Family Farm, Wally Niezguski, and the scholarship contest rules below.

Clarkston Family Farm

The Clarkston Family Farm is a non-profit educational farm committed to service kids of all ages and abilities. Our team of teachers, master gardeners, naturalists and outdoor educators strive to engage and inspire our next generation about sustainability, where our food comes from and the value of the natural world. We do this all within the context of a positive community gathering space. Over 35,000 community members enjoyed the farms' offerings last year as well. The CFF team is strongly committed to engaging all students regardless of income and in 2024 alone we served over 15,000 youth in Oakland County through free and reduced-cost high quality nature based programs. The Clarkston Family Farm also helps families in need with the gift of fresh food, by providing several thousand dollars worth of organic produce and farm market items in the form of a free CSA share. These are being provided through our new for 2025, 'Blessings Baskets' program (learn more about our CSA and Blessings Baskets program at our website Market page: https://clarkstonfamilyfarm.com/market/.

You can visit the Clarkston Family Farm in person during open farm and visiting hours any Wednesday from 10-6 p.m (winter hours through end of March). The Clarkston Family Farm is located at 6800 Hubbard Rd. Clarkston, MI 48348. You can visit our website anytime at: clarkstonfamilyfarm.com

Wally’s Service Project Scholarship Guidelines

A collaboration between the friends and family of Wally Niezguski and the Clarkston Family Farm. Eligible entrants: high school juniors and seniors in the Avondale, Brandon, Clarkston, Goodrich, Lake Orion, Oxford and Waterford School Districts planning to attend college or vocational school. Homeschool high school juniors and seniors in these school districts are encouraged to apply.

Scholarship Awards: $1200 first place, $700 second place

Contest Description: Design a service project or event that could be implemented in your local community. The project or event will benefit the entire community, a demographic group (e.g., at-risk youth, senior citizens, the food insecure), or the community’s environment.

Contest Submission: Describe your service project/event in 450 - 550 words. This description should be double-spaced, use 12-point Times New Roman font, have 1 – 1.5-inch page margins (top, bottom, side), and be original work submitted in .docx or .pdf format. Please explain why you think the proposed project/event is needed, how your community would benefit from its implementation, and how the project could be funded. Participants should submit their project description, along with their name, age, current high school, name of the college or vocational school they plan to attend, e-mail address, and telephone number to [email protected] by the contest entry deadline of April 11, 2025.

Contest Judging: Entries will be judged by project description clarity, project feasibility and execution plan, project originality and specificity, and likely project impact. Submissions identified by standard academic tools as likely containing plagiarized or artificial intelligence-generated text will be disqualified.

The scholarship awardees will be notified May 9 - 16, 2025. The awardees must validate their scholarship eligibility and agree to have their names published in local media.

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