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Alice Eastwood Scholarship

Applications will be accepted beginning October 1 and will continue to be accepted until a scholarship is awarded. Applicants will receive a response within four weeks of submission.

Application Form

"My desire is to help, not to shine."

The Alice Eastwood Scholarship supports undergraduates pursuing bachelor’s degrees that ultimately advance the mission of the Colorado Native Plant Society. One or two scholarships are administered each year, with successful applicants receiving awards for $950 or $475, Eastwood’s annual salary earned while teaching at Denver East High School in the late 1800s. Qualified applicants receive a CoNPS membership.

Eligibility & Conditions

  • Applicants must be undergraduates pursuing bachelor’s degrees that ultimately advance the Mission of the Society, including botany, ecology, conservation, landscape architecture, horticulture, or environmental science emphasizing native plants.
  • At the time a scholarship application is submitted, applicants must be registered full-time (12+ credits/semester).
  • Within one year of being awarded a scholarship, recipients will provide a photograph and brief biography for promotion, document how the scholarship was used, and attend the annual conference of the Society or a chapter meeting.

Ask your recommender to email their letter of support to CoNPSoffice@gmail.com, with this on the subject line: LOR Alice Eastwood for (your name).

Document File

Prepare a Document File that contains all four of these items in the order listed:

1. Cover Letter

2. Resumé

3. Unofficial Transcript

4. Essay

  • What is your field of study, how did you select it, and do any areas of specialization interest you?
  • What are your short- and long-term goals?
  • Describe any co-curricular and extra-curricular activities, as well as work experience pertinent to your goals.
Click or drag a file to this area to upload.

Who was Alice Eastwood?

Canadian by birth, Alice Eastwood moved to Denver in 1873 at the age of 14 to join her father and two siblings after the death of their young mother eight years earlier resulted in personal and financial hardship that disrupted family life.  Alice attended East Denver High School, where she excelled as a student, despite having to work several jobs to help support her family.  Upon graduating as valedictorian of her class, she was invited to teach at the high school.  From 1879-1890, Alice Eastwood traveled extensively and fearlessly in Colorado, teaching herself botany using Asa Gray's(1878) Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States and Synopsis of the Flora of Colorado by Thomas C. Porter and John M. Coulter (1874).  She explored the Southern Rocky Mountains on foot and on horseback, collecting well over 1200 plants, which later formed the basis for the herbarium at the University of Colorado Museum. In 1893, she published A Popular Flora of Denver, Colorado, one of three books and over 300 publications that she would author over the course of her life.  Today, Alice Eastwood is remembered as an outstanding field botanist and horticulturalist, and beloved member of the various communities, scientific and otherwise, that she influenced.  The Alice Eastwood Scholarship commemorates her contributions to a better understanding of the flora of Colorado.

The Alice Eastwood Scholarship is funded 100% by individual donations and is administered by the Colorado Native Plant Society. Donations, regardless of the amount,  have meaningful impact on students and the future of Colorado's native plants. Donate today!

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