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Scholarships

One of the most rewarding activities GVST gets to administer is our scholarship program. There are two distinct opportunities for students, which are the Dr. Tom Harris Scholarship and the Colonel Margorie Ann Ferrandino Scholarship. You can find out more information below.

If you know a student who would like to like to apply for one of these scholarships, please have them contact the financial aid department of their school. For more information, contact GVST at info@gardeningvolunteers.org or (210) 251-8101.

If you’d like to donate to the GVST Scholarship Fund, click the Donate button below.

Dr. Tom Harris Scholarship

In the past, GVST has awarded multiple scholarships to students attending Texas A&M University and the University of Texas at Austin.

One of our scholarship funds has been named to honor a previous GVST founding member, Dr. Tom Harris, a man of many talents, whose interests shifted to gardening after his retirement. In addition to being a founding member of the Gardening Volunteers of South Texas (GVST), Tom also became a Master Gardener and a certified Master Pruner. He served as President of both the Gardening Volunteers of South Texas and the Bexar County Master Gardeners. He was an active speaker and writer on all things gardening, speaking to hundreds of individuals, clubs, events and community education classes throughout Bexar County and the Hill Country.

GVST is honored to provide scholarships in the name of Dr. Tom Harris with the following criteria:

Be a sophomore or higher and remain in good standing with the University.
Maintain a 2.6 or higher Grade Point Average (GPA).
Be a citizen of the United States, and a resident of one of the following counties: Atascosa, Bandera, Bexar, Comal, Guadalupe, Kendall, Medina or Wilson.
Must be a fulltime student majoring in horticulture, landscaping or related field, with a focus on water conservation, environmental science, drought-tolerant plants, or watersaver landscaping.

The university should suggest the students who meet the criteria and GVST will participate in the final selection. If no students meet these criteria, we would consider other suitable agriculture students. The scholarship is awarded before the start of the school year.

Colonel Marjorie Ann Ferrandino Scholarship

Colonel Marjorie Ann Ferrandino Scholarship Fund, managed by GVST, awards $1,000 annually to a “female high school senior from within San Antonio to support full time attendance at an accredited 4-year university, for study leading to a professional career, such as agriculture research, development of horticulture and agriculture products, to promote environmental land and water conservation or serve as an education agricultural resource or teacher for the Bexar County community.”

GVST is honored to provide scholarships based on the following criteria:

Be a female graduating High School senior
Be a resident of San Antonio, Texas
Has been accepted to a four-year university
Has chosen one of the stipulated career plans