Palomar Audubon Society has a multifaceted mission, including a community outreach program with several special initiatives. One of these initiatives is our teen scholarship program which PAS has sponsored since 2004. Because of delays associated with the COVID pandemic, this year we will provide two 100% scholarship awards for a week- long educational summer camp on birding conducted by the American Birding Association at Camp Colorado. Camp Colorado is located at Estes Park, Colorado, and is near the Rocky Mountain National Park. The recipients of our 2022 Scholarship awards are Luca Cinus and Aedyn Loefke.

Luca Cinus is 13 years old and started birding at age 10. His favorite birds are the Green Heron and the Summer Tanager. He first saw the Green Heron at Lake Skinner which is close to his Temecula home, and Lake Skinner is also his favorite local birding location.  He tries to go birding every weekend at birding hotspots in either San Diego or Riverside Counties. Luca frequently sends his field trip reports to the eBird website. 

Aedyn Loefke  is 17 years old, lives in Valley Center, and really got hooked on birds eight years ago when he was 9 years old. At that time, Aedyn vividly remembers a PAS field trip to Kumeyaay Lake in Santee where a beautiful male Summer Tanager was found. His favorite birds are the Greater Roadrunner and California Quail. Recently, Aedyn has become an excellent bird photographer, and his photographs will be featured on the new Multicultural Interpretive Trail at Daley Ranch. Also, Aedyn frequently sends his field trip reports to the eBird website.

Congratulations Luca and Aedyn!