News
Vincent Lee
Marjot Foundation Scholarship Recipient
Falmouth Enterprise - Friday, May 13, 2011
Vincent Lee
Marjot Foundation Scholarship Recipient
Falmouth Enterprise - Friday, March 18, 2011
Progress Report
The Marjot Foundation
P.O. Box 803
Falmouth, MA 02541
Marjotfoundation.org
5 December 2010
To Our Marjot Friends:
Our letters must seem redundant to all of you BUT, yes, we have had another terrific year. The Marjot scholars of 2009-2010 are now attending Middlebury, Lewis and Clark and Colorado Colleges. One awardee from last year, Sam Levin from Great Barrington, MA, is applying to college now. We will not know where he is headed until spring.
For the first time, we have three Massachusetts scholars, Eva Faber of Martha’s Vineyard studying blue claw crab habitat in Edgartown and Tisbury, Vincent Lin of Falmouth looking at leaf litter decomposition and the impact on the carbon cycle and Ellie Tedeschi, Emily Castro and Madeline O’Grady of Cohasset looking at nitrates and phosphates in Gulf River sea foam in local harbors. All groups are headed to science fairs in the spring.
At our recent annual meeting, the trustees voted to fund four groups next year committing $18,000. I am personally funding a student who wins the competition from Glens Falls High School, New York in honor of my mother who grew up there. Other news is that the trustees elected Neil Moses as a new trustee and treasurer. Neil has just been named as Chief Financial Officer of Dunkin Donuts, and is a very good friend and neighbor in Racing Beach, Falmouth.
I am attaching a recently received email from Dr. Andrew Jenzer. You can thank yourselves for the impact the early donations made on young men and women like him. We have graduated doctors, dentists, architects, biologists and who knows what else? We are working hard to improve our follow up with Marjot scholars.
We are in our twelfth year of funding and have supported over sixty students. Quite simply put, without all of you, this would not have happened.
On behalf of all the trustees, thanks again.
Carol L. Reinisch, President
Press Release
Contact Person:
Carol Reinisch, President
Marjot Foundation
Marjotfoundation.org
508-548-8509
creinisc@mbl.edu
2 December 2010
Dr. Carol Reinisch announced today that the trustees of the Marjot Foundation, Falmouth, Mass. voted unanimously to fund one student project from Glens Falls High School in 2011-2012. Dr. Reinisch’s mother, Marjorie Bronne Reinisch, daughter of Flora and Carl Bronne, was raised in Glens Falls. Marjorie was active in philanthropy throughout her life and the funding by Marjot is in her memory.
The Marjot Foundation was created in 1998 in honor of Dr. Reinisch’s parents, Marjorie and Otto Reinisch. Since that time, Marjot has funded over 50 students from Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts. Marjot is dedicated to supporting public high school students’ grades 9-11 who develop a one-year environmental research project. The students must design the project, have a mentor and compete in the state science fair. The mentor may be a high school teacher, a scientist working in industry, government or a private company. Funding is competitive. The winning student/mentor team will receive $4500, $1000 for the student, $1000 for the mentor, up to $2000 in supplies and $500 for the science department of Glens Falls High School.
“My parents and my grandparents were very supportive of Glens Falls and I am grateful to the trustees for their vote of confidence to fund a student project from the high school”, said Dr. Carol Reinisch, President.
Details may be found at marjotfoundation.org. Application deadline will be March 1, 2011.
From Former Marjot Scholar Andrew Jenzer
November 6. 2010
Carol,
Hi, I don't know if you remember me but I did a Marjot project from 2004-2006 on the anthropogenic effects on water quality in southern Vermont. I got your letter today and wanted to answer your questions. I graduated Brattleboro Union High School in 2006 and went on to Boston College where I graduated in May of this year with a B.S. in Biology. I am currently at Creighton University School of Dentistry where I will graduate with a D.D.S. in 2014. I joined the Army going into college and completed the Reserve Officer's Training Corps program in my 4 years at BC and graduated as a Distinguished Military Graduate and commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant. I was awarded a full ROTC scholarship for undergraduate and a full Health Professional Scholarship for Dental School. When I graduate Dental School in 2014 I will be commissioned directly as a Captain and serve as a dentist for the Army. I am considering specializing, it is still a few years away, but I am thinking about oral pathology or oral surgery.
The Marjot scholarship was one of the best things to happen to me in high school. It was my first exposure to 'real world' science, a chance to take what I had been learning and apply it. I thought it was the coolest thing at the time, it really inspired me both then and now. I did research in undergraduate examining the biochemical structures involved in heavy metal ion detoxification via phytochelatins in c.elegans, and now here in dental school where I am begin to work with a professor on research involving oral stem cells. I don't know if I would have been as motivated and enjoyed it as much if I hadn't had a chance to get my feet wet, pun intended, in high school. I hope your foundation is still active and expanding because I feel like Marjot offers an opportunity unparalleled for high school students. Please let me know if there is anything else I can contribute or anything you need,
Very Respectfully,
Andrew Jenzer
2LT United States Army
Creighton University Dental School D.D.S. 2014
Boston College B.S. 2010
Andrew.Jenzer@gmail.com
802-579-4904
Progress Report
Progress Report
To: Friends of the Marjot Foundation
From: Carol L. Reinisch, President
Date: 12 May 2010
Re: PROGRESS
Marjot continues funding exceptional students. Based upon the Science Panel recommendations, we awarded grants to two students and one student team this month. Vincent Lin, a freshman at Falmouth High School, was ranked first. He will be examining leaf litter decomposition and the relationship of CO2 release on tree species and temperature. Dr. Jim Tang of the Ecosystems Center at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) will mentor him. This is the very first time we have linked funding a FHS student with a world-class local institution. We hope this model will flourish in the future.
Eva Faber of Martha’s Vineyard will be working with Bill Wilcox, Water Resource Planner and Luanne Johnson, a wildlife biologist. Eva’s research will address how mechanical pond openings impact blue crab abundance, distribution and recruitment. Finally, Emily Castro, Maggie O’Grady and Ellie Tedeschi from Cohasset, Mass. will be studying with Dr Ann Thomae. This team will investigate how sea foam levels impact the growth of algal blooms in Cohasset Harbor.
Where are the awardees of 2009-2010 going? Lian Folger received a third in the local science fair and was unable to go to the state level due to illness. She has received an early acceptance to Middlebury and will be off to Vermont. Sam Levin, a junior in Great Barrington, placed in the western Mass science fair and is aiming for the Ivies next year. Finally, from Vermont, Nick Grasso heads off to Lewis and Clark College while his partner, Breton Schwartzenbach, is going to Colorado College.
Out of the clear blue sky, we heard from Michele Hood, mentor to many Vermont students, who wrote that Martin Blood-Forsythe has now won a Churchill Scholarship at Haverford. We also received an unsolicited email from Dr. Josh Kristiansen; email is attached, now a dentist graduating from Harvard Dental School. Josh was one of the first awardees from Waldoboro, Maine in 1998.
Can you all believe this? I can’t. Our science panel is selecting young men and women who are going into medicine, dentistry, graduate schools, and all the things we thought about in the late 1990s when Marjot was launched.
As to financials, we remain solidly in the black due to contributions from all of you over the years. Our grants have risen from $3000 to $4500 per each team based upon a vote of the Board of Trustees. This year we were able to fund three teams at a total cost of $13,400. Depending upon our continued financial good health, we want to expand to four teams next year if there are meritorious applications.
Thanks to all of you, the wonderful ride continues.
Press Release
Marjot Foundation
Falmouth, Mass.
Contact: Dr. Carol L. Reinisch, President
Email: creinisc@mbl.edu
Telephone: 508-548-8509
For Immediate Release:
Vincent Lin, FHS Freshman, wins Prestigious Marjot Environmental Research Grant
Falmouth, Mass.
17 May 2010
Vincent Lin, son of Jian and Kelan Lin of Hillcrest Drive, Falmouth, has been awarded a Marjot Foundation grant to study the interdependence of leaf litter decomposition and carbon dioxide release on tree species and temperature. Mr. Lin’s research will be performed at the Marine Biological Laboratory’s (MBL) Martha’s Vineyard field site or in Falmouth. His indoor environmental research will be carried out at the Ecosystems Center, MBL. Amazingly, Mr. Lin has already won a first place award at the South Shore Regional Science Fair and a second place award at the Massachusetts State Science Fair based upon related work accomplished this year.
Dr Jim Tang, Associate Scientist, Ecosystems Center, MBL, will serve as Mr. Lin’s mentor, marking the first time that a Falmouth High School student will be working with an MBL scientist on a Marjot funded project. “We are really delighted that this wonderful connection for our foundation has been established,” said Dr. Carol Reinisch, President of the Foundation.
The Marjot Science Advisory Board ranked Mr. Lin’s proposal the highest of all those submitted. The Marjot Foundation is extremely pleased to be able to award another grant to a Falmouth High School student. Vincent Lin follows in the footsteps of Lian Folger , a FHS senior, who won a Marjot award last year for her research on the impact of cranberry bog pesticides on freshwater invertebrates.
Vincent Lin joins an elite group of over 50 students from Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts who have been awarded Marjot grants since 1998. The Marjot Foundation, Falmouth, Mass. is dedicated to supporting public high school students in environmentally based projects designed by the students. Marjot is supported solely by private donations, foundation and corporate sponsorship.
Press Release
Marjot Foundation
Falmouth, Massachusetts
Contact: Dr. Carol L. Reinisch, President
Email: creinisc@mbl.edu
Telephone: 508-548-8509
For Immediate Release:
Eva Faber, Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School Sophomore, Wins Prestigious Marjot Foundation Award
The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School and the Marjot Foundation of Falmouth, Mass. are proud to announce that Eva Faber, North Bog Road, Edgartown, has been awarded a one-year grant to study blue claw crabs in the Edgartown and Tisbury Great Ponds. Ms. Faber, a sophomore at MVRHS, will work with William Wilcox, the Water Resource Planner from the Martha’s Vineyard Commission, and Luanne Johnson, a wildlife biologist completing her PhD in Environmental Studies at Antioch University. Eva’s research will coordinate with the Great Pond Foundation to gain a better understanding of how mechanical pond openings influence blue crab abundance, distribution and recruitment. She will document what role the crabs play in their ecosystems. The results of her study may prove helpful both to local shellfish constables and to the Great Pond Foundation.
“This is the very first time we have awarded a Marjot grant to a student from Martha’s Vineyard. We certainly hope to be able to support many more students in the future” said Dr. Carol Reinisch, President of the Foundation. Eva’s research proposal on the role of blue crabs in the aquatic ecosystem was extensively reviewed by Marjot’s Science Advisory Board and judged to be one of the top three that will be funded.
The Marjot Foundation supports independent research in environmental science in public high schools and has funded over 50 students from Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont since 1998. Students in grades 9-11 are awarded grants for one full year to conduct environmental research projects they have designed. They then share their work with other students and the scientific community. Awardees are expected to present a mid year report to Marjot trustees and to compete in local and state science fairs. The Marjot Foundation is supported solely by private contributions, foundations and corporations and receives no public funding.
Ms. Faber is a graduate of the Edgartown School and was the winner of the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School Science Fair this year.
1 December 2009
To: Friends of the Marjot Foundation
From: Carol L. Reinisch, President and Morton T. Saunders, Chair, Board of Trustees
Re: 2010 plans and 2009 successes
Date: 1 December 2009
So many of you have asked me the same question: Who, exactly, are MARJOT scholars? What do they do for projects? Where do they go the college? Therefore I decided to highlight one of the highly successful projects we have funded over the last several years to answer some of these queries.
Kvehl McDermott, Maya von Wodtke and Eliza Warren-Shriner (Brattleboro, VT) applied for funding to study the impact of snow making on soil quality in southern Vermont Their project was reviewed by the Science Advisory Board (SAB) and recommended for funding. The SAB also helped them shape their work, once the funding was secured. Out they went in the field, collecting samples from multiple sites over the course of 10 months. They completed their research and headed to the Vermont science fair ending up with gold medals, grants and citations. The enclosed photo was taken at our mini science fair held at Tufts Veterinary School. (Left to right: Eliza Shriner, Bowdoin, Kvehl McDermott, University of New Hampshire and Maya von Wodtke, Middlebury). August Oddleifson and Jean Thomae had their peer-reviewed paper “Biofilm and Enterococcus in Cohasset Harbor accepted by the New England Environment Association for publication. I could cite many more wonderful examples.
Marjot is now in its 11th year of operation and on target to fund a minimum of four teams in 2010 at a total cost of $18,000. We will send out RFPs (requests for proposals) in January with a deadline of 1 April 2010. For the first time, we have a Falmouth High School student, Lian Folger, who just presented her work to the trustees at our annual meeting. Lian is on track to submit her work to the science fair, and given what we heard, we know she will do well.
We intend to target schools from the Cape and Islands in 2010 because many donors have indicated an interest in funding high school students from this area. As well, we will be seeking applications from Pennsylvania due to a significant restricted corporate gift. We will also continue to seek proposals from students in Massachusetts and Vermont as we have before.
Breaking news from Marjot is that Elaine Gorman, Ametek Corporation; Paoli, PA was elected to the Board at our annual meeting. Elaine joins another new trustee, James Johnson, Falmouth, Mass. elected earlier during 2009. Both are very welcome additions and bring new strengths to our foundation. We also thank Charles Bergmann Jr (Skip) who has rotated off the Board for all his enthusiastic help especially in the early years of our organization.
On behalf of the Chair and the Board of Trustees, but most importantly, our scholars, we thank all of you for your continuing support.
17 June 2008
To the Marjot Family:
All I can say to you for the early summer report is WOW. We held our tenth anniversary celebration at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University in Grafton, Mass. All the feedback I have received from those who attended has been overwhelmingly positive. Thanks to all of you who came and those of you who wrote supportive notes and checks for the event. Also a giant thank you to Dean Kochevar, Susan Brogan and Dr. Mary Rose Paradis who took time from their incredibly busy schedules to help us with our mini science fair.
I thought you would like to see where we are on student research. Because of your support, we have dramatically expanded the number of students we are able to fund. Right now, believe it or not, we have seven teams either finishing up, mid project or starting. The trustees voted last fall to raise each award to $4500 overall meaning we have more than enough money in the bank to commit to over $30,000 of support.
Look at the roster below. Our Marjot scholars have competed and won in science fairs in Maine, Massachusetts and Vermont. Sarah Houghton has been an Intel semi finalist(now Sarah Houghton, MD) and this year we have Marta McBean who won five different awards at the Vermont Science Fair.
Once again, thanks to all of you. What a decade we have had.
