Every year, the North Carolina Forestry Association’s Forest Education and Conservation Foundation offers a scholarship to a Montgomery Community College (MCC) Forest Management Technology student. This year’s scholarship winner is Andrew Martin (Drew), a second-year student in the program. After receiving an undergraduate degree in history from the University of North Carolina Asheville in his early 20s, Drew returned to school later in life to pursue a career in forestry. Drew’s education has taken him on a rather scenic route. He attended several public universities throughout the state before settling in Asheville, and after graduation had the opportunity to teach English in Spain for a year. Upon returning to North

Montgomery Community College student Cheryl-Lyn Chandler became interested in the environment as a middle-schooler. Her mother got her involved in a North Carolina Envirothon competition, which is organized around five categories: soils and land use, aquatic ecology, forestry, wildlife and current environmental issues. Cheryl-Lyn succeeded in the competition, and the experience laid the groundwork for what would become a burgeoning interest in forestry. Cheryl-Lyn hails from a military family, most of which is still residing in Cherry Point, North Carolina. Her parents raised three children in a Christian household. “I had a strong, faith-filled foundation,” explains Cheryl-Lyn. “Our parents raised us to be strong and self-sufficient, but also people of