As most people know, Cary Oshins, CREF’s Education Director, retired at the end of March. Much of what he did for CREF, for many years, was managing the Compost Operations Training Course (COTC). Moving forward, Shawn Bruckman will be handling all the onsite logistics for these trainings, and Kelsea Jacobsen will be taking care of all the offsite logistics. Beth Simone will be helping with local sponsorships. If you have any questions about the COTC program, contact CREF at info@compostfoundation.org.
Speaking of Cary Oshins and all the work he did for the COTC’s, it is not too late to donate to the new scholarship program named in his honor. Donations are being collected to fund scholarships to help people attend this valuable, career-enhancing training. For some people attending, the training cost is an obstacle. The Cary Oshins’ Training Scholarship will cover the registration cost to attend an upcoming COTC. You can make a donation to this program, which will allow more scholarships to be awarded, HERE. The application to apply for a scholarship will be available later this spring.
CREF’s other scholarship program, the University Compost Research Scholarship program, is also accepting donations and sponsorships. This program funds students doing compost-related research projects at their schools. Each scholarship winner receives $4,000 to assist with their project as well as an invitation to present their research findings at the USCC Annual Conference, all expenses covered. For more details on donating to this program, contact Beth Simone, bethsimone@compostfoundation.org.