Megan McNally, winner of the AAUW Jacquie Walker Scholarship

When the Buffalo Branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) did me the great honor of naming a $5,000 scholarship after me, I asked if the requirements for winning this scholarship might be based not just on academic achievement, but also on community service.  I wanted the recipient to be someone who has already made service to others an integral part of her life.

The winner, named during an awards dinner on Monday night, exceeds all my expectations.

Megan McNally, of Williamsville, is an outstanding student in her senior year as an Environmental Policy major at BarnardCollege. The College’s highly selective Centennial Scholars Program provides funding for an independent study project.  Megan used $3500 of her funding to purchase a foreclosed house on Eaton Street in Buffalo.  She has opened the doors of this house to the neighborhood for free weekly seminars on home improvement projects.  Along with her neighbors, Megan has been learning how to install glass block windows, erect fencing, paint, sand floors, fix leaky pipes, and much more.  It’s her way of improving an economically depressed area of Buffalo and empowering city residents, one project at a time.

Megan will continue to use the house as a learning lab to support her senior thesis on retrofitting older homes with green technology. She sees her future connected to preserving and protecting the environment and, perhaps, in the field of recycled building products.

Members of the American Association of University Women work hard through their annual Used Book Sale to raise the money for Megan’s scholarship and several other scholarships and educational programs for local girls and women. They can be proud of the support they are extending to this impressive young woman with such a promising future. Good luck, Megan!