Schletzbaum wins conservation scholarship

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This article was written and posted on INHF's website in May of 2008.

Andrea Schletzbaum of Pleasantville is a 2008 recipient of the Gladys Black Scholarship

Andrea Schletzbaum of Pleasantville has been selected to receive a Gladys Black Scholarship. Andrea, daughter of Roger and Maureen Schletzbaum, is a 2008 graduate of Pleasantville High School.

The Gladys Black Scholarship Fund was created to memorialize Gladys Black, a Marion County bird expert and author, and to launch her county’s next generation of conservationists and naturalists.

While raising funds to purchase the Gladys Black Bald Eagle Refuge, the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation (INHF) directed additional funds to establish this scholarship. INHF is a nonprofit conservation group that has protected more than 100,000 acres throughout Iowa. The award is coordinated locally with the Red Rock Environmental Education Fund.

Andrea will start her freshman year at Iowa State University this fall. She owns her own flower business and thinks she would like to major in horticulture. In high school, Andrea was active in Future Farmers of America, job-shadowed the Marion County Conservation Board’s naturalist and assisted with Sportsman’s Weekend.

Unlike many scholarship winners, Andrea is already familiar with her scholarship’s namesake. “Gladys Black lived on the same street as us,” Andrea said.

For more information, e-mail Cathy Engstrom, Director of Communications, or call (515) 288-1846.