Mono Lake Committee Scholarship

The Mono Lake Committee awards the Mono Lake Committee Scholarship to support Mono County students seeking post-high school education.

The Mono Lake Committee Scholarship is one of the ways the Committee is active in our community, contributing to support local students and families.

Each year the Committee awards up to two $1,000 scholarships to students pursuing higher education who display a personal connection with Mono Lake and the Mono Lake story. Mono County resident high school seniors who have firm plans to further their education within a year of graduation qualify for the Mono Lake Committee Scholarship. Student applicants must visit Mono Lake and write an essay that responds to the question: Why do places like Mono Lake matter?

Application process

The Mono Lake Committee notifies Mono County high schools when the application process opens. Completed applications must be submitted to the Mono Lake Committee in mid-May each year. Please contact Education Director Ryan Garrett with any questions or if you are interested in donating to the scholarship fund.

2023 Scholarship recipients and essays

In 2023, scholarships were awarded to Esha Eilts from Lee Vining High School and Kelly Thompson from Coleville High School. They both wrote thoughtful essays about the importance of Mono Lake both to them and to the world. We wish them well for their next step.

Lee Vining High School graduate Esha Eilts, left, and Coleville High School graduate Kelly Thompson, right, received Mono Lake Committee Scholarships in 2023.

Excerpt from Esha Eilts’ essay

“I love my community and the nature that surrounds it. I will always remember being on June Mountain and seeing the deep blue of Mono Lake miles away. Backcountry skiing above Mono Lake and watching it appear bigger and bigger the higher I got. In the summer time getting salt in my hair and floating as I watch the birds and clouds float by. This evening all of the colors seem subdued, tired, the light gray sky glimmers in the lake. Everything appears simple, gray, brown, white, but as I look more at everything the more complicated it becomes, all the different grays, browns, and whites, the shifting shades. Just like life, it can be beautiful but not always easy. Mono Lake however, and other places in nature are my outlet to feeling at peace and as I sit here I feel at peace, more so than I have in a long time.” You can read the rest of Esha’s essay here.

Excerpt from Kelly Thompson’s essay

“I wanted to say goodbye to the place I grew up in. Looking out at the saline lake, I remembered my past; my mom talking about how influential that lake was to our community, my childhood tree and how I felt like I was the only one advocating for its safety and existence. That feeling came back to me. I couldn’t see as many tufa towers as I used to, and I became emotional when I heard a bird chirping, almost as if it was saying, ‘It’ll be okay. We’ll still be here.’” You can read the rest of Kelly’s essay here.

Previous scholarship recipients

The Mono Lake Committee has awarded scholarships each year since 2008. Find each year’s recipient below or see all recipients since 2009 here.

2023: Esha Eilts, Lee Vining High School | Kelly Thompson, Coleville High School

Lee Vining High School graduate Esha Eilts, left, and Coleville High School graduate, Kelly Thompson, right, received Mono Lake Committee Scholarships in 2023. Read their essays and find more information here.

2022: Kylee Lange, Coleville High School | Sergio Santillan-Leal, Lee Vining High School

Coleville High School graduate Kylee Lange, not pictured, and Lee Vining High School graduate Sergio Santiallan-Leal, center, received Mono Lake Committee Scholarships in 2022. Read their essays and find more information here.

2021: Chyann Andrews and Leonel Galindo, Lee Vining High School

Lee Vining High School graduates Chyann Andrews, left, and Leonel Galindo, right, received Mono Lake Committee Scholarships in 2021. Read their essays and find more information here.

2020: Keely Podosin, Mammoth High School | Ben Trefry, Lee Vining High School

Mammoth High School graduate Keely Podosin, left, and Lee Vining High School graduate Ben Trefry, right, received Mono Lake Committee Scholarships in 2020. Read their essays and find more information here.

2019: Sophia McKee, Lee Vining High School | Orion Ellis, Mammoth High School

Mammoth High School graduate Orion Ellis, left, and Lee Vining High School graduate Sophia McKee, right, received Mono Lake Committee Scholarships in 2019. Read their essays and find more information here.

Two pictures of two sets of people smiling.
2018: Rosalie Burch and Isabel Calderon, Lee Vining High School

Lee Vining High School graduates Rosalie Burch, left, and Isabel Calderon, right, received Mono Lake Committee Scholarships in 2018. Read their essays and find more information here.

2017: Reina Childs, Coleville High School | Charles DesBaillets, Lee Vining High School

Coleville High School graduate Reina Childs, top right, and Lee Vining High School graduate Charles DesBaillets, bottom center, received Mono Lake Committee Scholarships in 2017. Read their essays and find more information here.

2016: Berlin Del Aguila and Julie Harris, Lee Vining High School

Lee Vining High School graduates Berlin Del Aguila, top right, and Julie Harris, bottom center, received Mono Lake Committee Scholarships in 2016. Read their essays and find more information here.

2015: Carson Bold, Mammoth High School | Olivia Nelson, Lee Vining High School

Mammoth High School graduate Carson Bold, left, and Lee Vining High School graduate Olivia Nelson, not pictured, received Mono Lake Committee Scholarships in 2015. Read their essays and find more information here.

Carson Bold won one of the 2015 Mono Lake Committee Scholarships; Communications Director Arya Degenhardt presented it to him at graduation. Photo courtesy of Susan Morning.
2014: Patty Anne Hensley, Mammoth Lakes Academy | Alexis Romero, Lee Vining High School

Mammoth Lakes Academy graduate Patty Anne Hensley, left, and Lee Vining High School graduate Alexis Romero, right, received Mono Lake Committee Scholarships in 2014. Read their essays and find more information here.

2013: Tristan Blommer and Cortney Duro, Lee Vining High School

Lee Vining High School graduates Tristan Blommer, left, and Cortney Duro, right, received Mono Lake Committee Scholarships in 2013. Read their essays and find more information here.

2012: Cory Forbes, Alek McKee, and Natasha McCullough, Lee Vining High School | Cavanagh Gohlich, Coleville High School

Lee Vining High School graduates Cory Forbes (top left), Alek McKee (top right), and Natasha McCullough (bottom left), and Coleville High School graduate Cavanagh Gohlich (bottom right), received Mono Lake Committee Scholarships in 2012. Read their essays and find more information here.

2011: Angela Annett and Quincy Parker, Lee Vining High School

Lee Vining High School graduates Angela Annett, left, and Quincy Parker, right, received Mono Lake Committee Scholarships in 2011. Read their essays and find more information here.

2010: Andrew Oliveira, Eastern Sierra Academy | Katie Woodruff, Lee Vining High School

Lee Vining High School graduate Katie Woodruff, left, and Eastern Sierra Academy graduate Andrew Oliviera, right, received Mono Lake Committee Scholarships in 2010. Read their essays and find more information here.

2009: Justin Diem and Juan Carlos Pina, Eastern Sierra Academy | Erika Flores, Lee Vining High School

Lee Vining High School graduate Erika Flores, below, and Eastern Sierra Academy graduates Justin Diem and Juan Carlos Pina, not pictured, received Mono Lake Committee Scholarships in 2009. Read their essays and find more information here.

2008: Hannah Gehrman and Mariah McCullough, Lee Vining High School

Lee Vining High School graduates Hannah Gehrman and Mariah McCullough received the first-ever Mono Lake Committee Scholarships in 2009.

Top photo by Santiago Escruceria.