Conservation Award Given To Gilmour Academy Student

GATES MILLS, OH — Ava Thomas, who will graduate in 2018 from Gilmour Academy, has been awarded Protect Geauga Parks Bob McCullough Memorial Scholarship. The scholarship is given to a local student that has shown a commitment to conservation through volunteer work, extracurricular activities and other work.

The future biology major has completed an impressive list of conservation projections. She turned her own backyard into a Monarch Waystation, for butterflies, as well as a Certified Wildlife Habitat. She's a volunteer with Herps Alive, a nonprofit reptile and amphibian rescue center.

Thomas also created a patented liquid formula called "Bottled Bird Buoyancy." The liquid helps birds maintain their buoyancy after an oil spill, a formula Thomas designed when she learned water fowl were dying after oil spills.

Not satisfied with one creation, Thomas also made a portable homemade water filter using charcoal, bleach and horse hair (from Thomas' own horse). That project, plus her research, were recognized by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Cleveland Clinic.

Thomas is a great student too. She spent a week at The Ohio State University's Stone Laboratory on Gibraltar Island, studying aquatic animals, habitats, invasive species and water pollution. On top that, she has a 4.25 GPA and has taken Advanced Placement Biology, AP Chemistry, physics, AP Calculus and molecular genetics at Gilmour. She also interned at Case Western Reserve's Wolstein Research Building to study cancer treatment.

Thomas said she wants to preserve nature post-college, putting her passion to use.

Photo from Gilmour Academy