Azure Mountain Friends

GUIDELINES for the AZURE MOUNTAIN FRIENDS ‘VOLUNTEER’ INTERPRETER SCHOLARSHIP

Purpose: The Azure Mountain Friends Scholarships have been created to encourage the involvement of area teens in helping us to fulfill our educational mission. In learning about Azure Mountain’s human and natural history and the story of the fire tower’s restoration, the students will gain a new awareness of and appreciation for environmental and historic preservation. We anticipate that scholarship recipients will serve as role models for their peers.

The Azure Mountain Friends may offer at least one $350 scholarship to a high school student (Senior), planning to attend college, or to a college student who volunteers to serve as a Fire Tower Interpreter on the Azure Mountain summit.
The scholarship may only be used to pay for “qualified” educational expenses, such as tuition, fees, and course related expenses, such as books, supplies and equipment.
AMF will prepare and distribute a press release to the local papers. An application form will be distributed to interested parties including all local school administrators and guidance counselors.
Preference will be given to a student living in the St. Regis Falls Central School District in order to encourage local support for the Azure Mountain Friends and the tower that they’ve helped to restore and now maintain.
To be considered for this position, students will be asked to submit a brief essay (250 words) on “Why I would like to be an AMF ‘volunteer’ Fire Tower Interpreter for five days in the summer.” [The 5 days would be weekend days in the time frame between the Memorial Day and Labor Day Weekends compatible with the student’s other commitments.]
Three AMF Directors, one of whom is an Officer, will read the essays and together make the selection. The Board of Directors will then vote to approve the selected student(s). The selected student(s) will be presented with a copy of our 52 page Fire Tower Interpreter’s Guide, an AMF identifying patch and an AMF “T” shirt.
The student’s 1st day on the mountain will involve a three hour mentoring/training session with an experienced AFM volunteer interpreter. The student will then be left on his/her own for the remainder of the day.
Upon completion of these 5 days of ‘interpretive’ experience on the mountain, the student shall be required to submit a typed essay of at least 250 words in which they summarize their experience. Their comments may be used in soliciting future AMF scholarship applicants.
When the student volunteer(s) has (have) completed the interpreter experience, the AMF will make every effort to recognize the student’s accomplishment(s) through press releases to the local media.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: MAY 7
Download AMF Scholarship Application (pdf form)

2009 SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS: DANIEL ROMLEIN & MAGGIE COOK

Maggie: "The view and the people made the time I spent on Azure Mountain unforgettable. I learned something new from each person I met, and I hope to continue hiking to learn more about nature and everything that goes hand-in-hand with it. I truly can’t thank the Azure Mountain Friends enough for sharing with me the perks of being a Fire Tower Interpreter."