Congratulations to Mr. Derek Silva, a sophomore in the UMass Sustainable Food and Farming program in the Stockbridge School of Agriculture, for being selected as the recipient of the 2012 National Grid Foundation Green Scholarship Award.

Presenting the award in Stockbridge Hall was Mr. Robert Keller, President of the National Grid Foundation.

Derek was selected by the faculty of the Stockbridge School of Agriculture as an outstanding example of a young person committed to both academic excellence and sustainable living.  His education includes practical, scientific and policy aspects of sustainable food and farming.

In this photo, Derek and other Sustainable Food and Farming students learn how to prepare cauliflower for harvest at Simple Gifts Farm In North Amherst, MA.   

Derek, who comes from Lowell, MA, hopes to pursue a career in advocacy for sustainable issues including local farming.  He is currently studying sustainable food and farming and will focus on public policy and advocacy in his degree.  His family originally comes from a farming community in the Azores and Derek’s grandfather is an avid gardener.

As part of the presentation, Dr. Wesley Autio (pictured above), Director of the Stockbridge School of Agriculture, met with Derek and Robert Keller to talk about the rich history of the school and its recent elevation to an academic unit in the College of Natural Sciences.

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Special thanks to the National Grid Foundation and congratulations to Derek Silva from the faculty in the University of Massachusetts College of Natural Sciences.