Path to elite ‘green MBA’ studies started at St. Mike’s

Meghan VanStry '17 parlays major scholarship, undergrad business/environment majors to join sparkling international cohort at UVM for top Sustainable Innovation graduate program

September 16, 2020
Faculty/staff report
VanStryPhoto

Meghan VanStry ’17

Meghan VanStry ’17 is currently an MBA candidate in the nationally recognized Sustainable Innovation MBA program at the University of Vermont’s Grossman School of Business — an opportunity that grew from her rich relevant Saint Michael’s undergraduate experiences, along with the help of a prestigious, monetarily significant and highly competitive scholarship as a first-generation college student.

She is the recipient of the Inclusive Achievement Scholarship —  a merit-based scholarship awarded to “a single deserving member of the Class of 2021 from an underrepresented group whose application demonstrates the highest levels of commitment and achievement pertaining to sustainable business, innovation, and/or entrepreneurship; and future potential as a transformational change agent who will create positive social and/or environmental value through for-profit business models,” according to the UVM website.

While at Saint Michael’s, Meghan majored in Business Administration and Environmental Studies (Honors Program), graduating magna cum laude with departmental honors for Environmental Studies. She was inducted into the international honor society for business, management and administration (Sigma Beta Delta) and the National Catholic Honor Society (Delta Epsilon Sigma).

VanStry, a native of Medford, MA, said she is excited to continue her studies integrating the two disciplines of her undergraduate majors. While at Saint Michael’s, VanStry was the recipient of the Brian Lacey International Fellowship in Social Justice Award, which she used as a junior to combine passions for the environment, human rights, and social justice during a Wildlife Conservation and Political Ecology program in Tanzania focused on water resources.

Her UVM website profile among an impressive cohort of classmates from around the world also enrolled in the program ranked by Princeton Review as “top green MBA” tells more of Meghan’s story: “Her childhood summers at Girl Scout Camp were spent exploring the woods and cooking on campfires. Her passions for the outdoors, team building, and empowering women were cemented during these foundational years …. During her time at Saint Michael’s, she was an active leader of the campus environmental club and student government. She spent a semester studying wildlife conservation and political ecology in Tanzania, culminated by summiting Mount Kilimanjaro. After graduating, Meghan remained in Vermont to work at National Life Group, learning about corporate social responsibility in action. Meghan is a volunteer director on the board of YWCA Vermont Camp Hochelaga. Working with YWCA VT, she combines her passion for summer camp with her business acumen to propel the organizations’ mission of eliminating racism and empowering women. In her spare time, Meghan enjoys baking, caring for her plants, and sunshine.”

A Saint Michael’s website story about Meghan’s Lacey Scholarship while she was still an undergraduate quoted her as saying, “Environmental issues and social justice often go hand in hand; when the environment is degraded, human lives are also degraded. To me, global citizenship is being able to empathize with others around the world, despite distance and differences in culture because we are all part of the same humanity.”

 

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