Walden Champions Engineering Students and Continued Learning Throughout the Company

Walden Environmental Engineering (Walden) is pleased to play a small but significant role in helping shape the educational pursuits of many young people throughout the areas where we operate. These areas include our headquarters in Oyster Bay on Long Island, as well as our service areas in the Hudson Valley, Connecticut, and Fort Wayne, IN, where we provide internship and scholarship opportunities to local students. Indeed, Walden’s culture values the continued learning of our regular full-time staff and interns.

To that end, managers in the company are responsible for mentoring the younger staff. However, staff at all levels of the organization are encouraged to seek opportunities to learn and expand their knowledge base. Whether that be through involvement in associations or simply by asking questions, continued learning is one of the core values of Walden.

However, at Walden, we do more than say we support continued learning. To encourage young people in the community, Walden awards a yearly scholarship of $3,500 to a high school student on Long Island. Eligible students are enrolled in engineering classes, are in good standing academically, and intend to continue their educational pursuits in engineering. The student candidates are given an exercise they must complete to be considered for the scholarship.

Typically, the activity outlines an environmental issue in the local area and prompts the students to envision a solution or action to address the problem. The candidates must think about the issue from the perspective of Walden’s work and the local community’s needs when formulating their solution.

In this year’s case, two finalists, both from Oyster Bay High School, were selected from those that submitted responses. The finalists then came to Walden’s office and presented their solutions to a panel that chose the scholarship recipient.

This year’s Walden Environmental Engineering Scholarship awardee was Gianna Murphy. Murphy was formerly an intern at Walden. As with many of our interns, she attended Oyster Bay High School with her sights set on pursuing a degree in engineering. We wish Gianna well as she begins her college years.

We also fund scholarships in Connecticut and Fort Wayne, IN. Walden’s scholarship funding is intended to help the awardee finance costs other than tuition that can make attending college difficult for some. The winners often use the funds for registration, books, and additional costs not typically covered by tuition.

“I want Walden’s young staff members to learn when they are here,” said Joseph Heaney, President and Founder of Walden. “We could ask our interns to make copies or file all day, but then it would not be much of a learning experience for them. I consider Walden to be shaping tomorrow’s generation of engineers. To me, that is important work.”

Walden will continue the yearly scholarship awards and encourage staff to keep seeking new ways to learn, both personally and professionally. Read our News and Announcements for more information about our staff members.