Page 10 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, JUNE 30, 2023 SAVE Scholarship Winner aspires to become an environmental attorney (Editor’s Note: Mackenzie Kelley, this year’s SAVE Environmental Scholarship Winner, addressed the 50th Annual Meeting & Dinner of Saugus Action Volunteers for The Environment on Wednesday.) By Mackenzie Kelley E ssex North Shore Agricultural & Technical High School Thank you to Ann Devlin and Saugus Action Volunteers for the Environment committee for awarding me this scholarship and for this wonderful night. My name is Mackenzie Kelley and I had a typical North Shore upbringing. A mother and a father, in a single-family house that they owned in Saugus, with a little brother and a dog too. I went to a tiny catholic elementary school. When I say tiny I mean tiny! I “graduated” with 13 students and I was the Student Council President and in the National Honor Society. High school was just around the corner, I knew I wanted something diff erent, so I applied to Essex North Shore Agricultural and Technical School in the Environmental Studies Program. Over 1000 students applied and they accepted less than 400 kids. I applied and received scholarships to many exclusive private high schools, but I chose to attend Essex Tech, to explore my passion for protecting the coast and waterways that provide us with sustainability. When I was young my family would spend summers on White Horse Beach, in Plymouth, Massachusetts, where each night I would spend the night searching for any stray plastic sand toys that would make their way into the ocean. Wind gushing, waves crashing and wayward beach umbrellas rolling down the sand and there I was trying my best to grab on to anything before it blew into the water. If I didn’t stop the plastic before it hit the shore, I was certain it would be my fault and some poor unassuming sea turtle would have its head stuck in a sand pail. As you can see from an early age, I have had an undying passion for the environment and once I learned that ENSATS off ered the opportunity to study Natural & Environmental Sciences I knew that I would excel. ENSATS programming uses inquiry-based projects to detoring and quality-control. Water quality testing, such as pH, salinity, nitrite and nitrate level tests, is conducted to help predict any large issues, such as algal blooms. As I pursue my higher eduSAVE Co-President Stephanie Shalkoski (left) with Mackenzie Kelley, who received this year’s 2023 Environmental Scholarship. (Saugus Advocate photo by Mark E. Vogler) velop skills in observation, assessment, analysis, and management of our most vital resources; water, soil, forests, and wildlife. Over the past 4 years I have helped to restore and protect our coastlines of the North Shore. I have spent more than 20 hours doing (Editor’s Note: This is a press release from the Saugus Public Library.) Reading is Jawsome W Saugus Public Library launched its Kids 2023 Summer Reading Program ith school out for the summer, kids will be spending even more time at the Saugus Public Library. If you’re looking for fun, educational activities & GAMING DISTRICT MALDEN Summer Reading P www.MaldenGamingDistrict.com Questing, Billiards, Bouldering, e-Sports, VR, Room Escapes, Karaoke and Magic, plus many great restaurants, shops, and breweries all in Malden Center! summer programming to support your kids’ learning, stop by the Saugus Public Library. This summer, the Library presents “Reading is Jawsome,” the kids’ 2023 summer reading program. Activities include literacy support, story times, music programs, discounted museum and Massachusetts park passes and take & make crafts. In addition, there will be special visits by Wildlife Encounters, Vinny the Bubble Guy, the Saugus Fire Department, Spiderman and the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy and a performance of “Peter & the Wolf.” Check out the Library’s online event calendar for upto-date information about all our programs. Families are encouraged to register for the shark-themed “Reading is Jawsome” program using the Beanstack app. READING | SEE PAGE 11 GAMING DISTRICT check us out at coastline sweeps, which allowed me to not only remove any litter from the coast, but also help reduce some of the sources. These solutions include trash bins, as well as signs reminding residents to remove their trash. I have also done an abundance of monication at Merrimack College, it is my goal to further research environmental sustainability and restoration. I hope to one day become an environmentally-based attorney. This will help to stop large companies from dumping waste into natural water sources, while also stopping the pollution of our land. I also hope to stop the development of greenfi elds, and to rather use previously developed brownfields. The environment is our most important commodity, it is important to me that we restore and protect our environment, while making people aware of the severity of these issues. To my family, my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, Jake and Logan, thank you for supporting me through this journey. To Ms. Devlin and the SAVE committee, thank you again, very much for this scholarship.
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