4/26/2024 –
Joseph W. Masse Environmental Scholarship
This Earth Week, thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor, the Dennis Conservation Land Trust (DCLT) is pleased to announce the first year of its Joseph W. Masse Environmental Scholarship. The competitive $1,000 Scholarship will be awarded to a senior at Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School (DYRHS). It is intended for a college- or university-bound environmental studies student who has shown academic promise, a burgeoning love for Cape Cod’s environment, and a demonstrated need of financial assistance.
Encouraged to apply are DYRHS students meeting the following criteria:
- Current senior at DYRHS, graduating this June.
- Committed to attending an accredited college or university this autumn.
- Chosen major in one of the following fields: Environmental Studies, Ecology, Natural Resources, Biological Sciences, Environmental Engineering, or similar fields.
- Demonstrated financial need.
Especially encouraged to apply are students actively involved in the new DYRHS Environmental Club.
Applicants should submit a resume and a one-page cover letter outlining their connection with the local environment; their short-term career goals, including college plans and chosen major(s); and a need for financial assistance. Please submit materials to DCLT’s Executive Director, David Fryxell, by email: dfryxell@DennisConservationLandTrust.org. Applications will be reviewed on a nondiscriminatory, competitive basis, and will be accepted through May 15, 2024. The award will be announced in early June and funds disbursed upon the awardee’s commitment to using the Scholarship funds exclusively for educational purposes.
About Joseph W. Masse
Joe Masse was born in Providence, Rhode Island and grew up in Rehoboth, MA, a town twice the area of Dennis filled with farms and open space. It was in Rehoboth, surrounded by hundreds of acres of open space, where he developed a deep-seated love and respect for the environment.
Joe attended high school at Coyle High in Taunton, MA, before completing a Liberal Arts degree at Providence College. After serving in the U.S. Army, Joe went to work for Warner Lambert in Morris Plains, New Jersey. When Pfizer acquired Warner Lambert in 2000, Joe, then a President of the company was offered and accepted early retirement. He and his wife Rosemary relocated to Dennis, MA, just 70 miles from his original home in Rehoboth.
In 2003, Joe was elected a Trustee of the Dennis Conservation Land Trust. Joe played an important role in the successful acquisition of Crowes Pasture Conservation Area, today, and likely forever, the largest conservation area in Dennis. Joe has served as a Trustee for 21 years and is the Trust’s second longest-serving President. In this tenure, he has overseen the permanent protection of 264 acres of land in Dennis, including one of its most recent and important acquisitions, Not Enough Acres Farm, from which the DCLT now operates its Summer Science Fair Internship Program and Environmental Study Center.
Joe will be the first to tell you, despite the business success he achieved during his time at Warner Lambert, his involvement in the protection and care of open space and the effect open space has on ensuring a healthy environment beneficial to all the creatures that inhabit the town of Dennis, is the legacy of which he is most proud.
“We are on Earth to take care of life. We are on Earth to take care of each other? – Xiye Bastida