MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP - 20 school bus scholarships were awarded through Harris Nature Center for the 2012-2013 school year.

Harris Nature Center's Senior Parks Naturalist, Kit Rich, explained what the scholarship is and how it came to be, "We came up with the idea that if we could offer a scholarship to help pay for this then that would help enable these classes to come out and spend time in nature- and have some programs from our naturalist staff that would help to increase their understanding of the environment, and that helps to supplement their science education."

The scholarships, worth $1,639.66, allowed 42 classes of 966 children to participate in educational programs at the Harris Nature Center.

The numbers are up from the previous year's 16 scholarships. Tightened budgets made it difficult to find finances needed for transportation costs associated with field trips.