The recipient of this year’s Hancock Woman’s Club Scholarship, Leah Stahmann, is an engineer studying for a master’s degree in biodiversity, wildlife and ecosystem health from the University of Edinburgh.

Her goal is to refocus her career on restoring, regenerating and supporting biodiversity to support a more-sustainable future. Stahmann’s desire to become a part of the environmental solution both globally and within Hancock exemplifies the Hancock Woman’s Club’s motto – “For the public good.”

Explaining the motivation for her career change, Stahmann stated, “My whole life, I’ve sought nature in its most-pristine form, from the mountain peaks of Denali, through the rainforests of Bolivia to the glaciers of the Antarctic. These wild places are precious and they are diminishing. During my six months of backpacking through rural South America, I witnessed the beauty of thriving biodiversity alongside the devastation caused by unsustainable practices. These experiences fueled my deep commitment to conservation, and further inspired me to seek a career in this field, to become part of the solution.”

Throughout her career, Stahmann, a Hancock resident, has worked for emerging sustainable technology companies looking for ways to develop and commercialize technology solutions. Stahmann has come to believe that “to move toward a more-sustainable future we need to focus on restoring, regenerating, and supporting our natural resources and environment. My motivation for pursuing a career change is to work more directly on the heart of this issue.”