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Southampton Press / Community / Community Story / 2009063

Westhampton Garden Club Awards Scholarships

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James Daniels is a recipient of a Westhampton Garden Club scholarship. COURTESY WESTHAMPTON GARDEN CLUB

James Daniels is a recipient of a Westhampton Garden Club scholarship. COURTESY WESTHAMPTON GARDEN CLUB

authorStaff Writer on Aug 8, 2022

The Westhampton Garden Club’s annual $3,000 scholarship has been awarded to Steven Acevedo, a graduate of Hampton Bays High School, who will pursue environmental studies and computer science at Stony Brook University.

Inspired by Greta Thunberg’s speech at the 2019 United Nations Climate Action Summit, his specific interests are climate control and carbon footprint issues. The son of Adriana Gomez and Fernando Acevedo, he is a first generation American and excelled in a demanding curriculum including AP courses in physics, Spanish, seminar, research, language and composition, environmental science and calculus for nine college course credits earned during high school. He has received multiple honors for his academic and extra-curricular activities, including Tri-M Music Honor Society, National Honor Society, Seal of Biliteracy and the APC Capstone diploma.

Diane Stewart, the garden club’s scholarship chair noted that the applicants were so outstanding a second honorary scholarship of $1,000 was unanimously approved and awarded to James Daniels, a graduate of Westhampton Beach High School who will major in molecular biology at Princeton University. A passionate hiker and advocate for the Long Island Pine Barrens, James wrote and published “The Must-See Hiking Destinations of Long Island” at age 13, after a year of hiking, researching and writing. He has just published the third edition with cumulative sales nearing 1,000 copies. He has been invited to deliver presentations at local parks and libraries to share his advocacy for public lands and also led hikes and cleanups. He is the son of Diane and James Daniels of East Moriches.

Westhampton Garden Club scholarship winners share the club’s mission to enhance and protect while promoting the conservation of native plants, woodlands, open spaces and waterways.

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