Wilson Sustainability Fellows

The Wilson Fellowship provides students from any academic major with an opportunity to engage with the public in a community based research program designed to assist community organizations address issues with a deep social and ecological connection. The Wilson Sustainability Fellowship is designed to provide students with an opportunity to pursue a passion for ecological and social justice at the intersection of campus and the community. Student receiving this scholarship will work with a community or campus organization to pursue their passion toward a more ecologically viable and socially just world.

Named in honor of one of the founders of the Grantham Community Garden, Adrian Wilson was a student at Messiah when he tragically drowned while on an international summer missions trip in 2008. Adrian was a person of patience, creativity, and humor, and his friends will always lament the fact that he left them too soon. And yet even in his too-short life, Adrian demonstrated the power of generosity and selflessness. His dedication to the Grantham Community Garden and ecological sustainability in general was a natural extension of his “others-before-self” lifestyle. As one of Adrian’s closest friends stated, “some of Adrian's and my most significant college experiences involved community-based scholarship and learning.”