Marabel Gann was named the recipient of a one thousand dollar scholarship from the Sam Dixon Masonic Lodge in Centre. Gann, with family members present, received the award during the Lodge Meeting Thursday evening.

Marabel said she plans to pursue her educational career at the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga where she will study for a Bachelors Degree in environmental science with a concentration in policy and planning with a minor in international studies. Her plans are to put her education to work against environmental injustice as an environmental policy analyst/advisor for the federal government one day.

Gann said her life in Cherokee County, Alabama has surrounded her with a brilliant abundance of biodiversity in a unique community that derives it livelihood largely from local natural resources. She said this is where her fervent desire to protect the fragile ecological framework that supports the diverse populations of wildlife and people alike was born.

Marabel told the Masonic Lodge she was thankful and excited to have been given the opportunity  to generate a positive change and looks forward to doing the work she loves.