ANNUAL "BUCK" ROGERS MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP

SPONSORED BY THE
MISSOURI CONSERVATION HERITAGE FOUNDATION

Since 1999, Missouri Outdoor Communicators (MOC) has awarded over $36,000 to qualified college students interested in a career in outdoor communications through the “Buck” Rogers Memorial Scholarship. 

Currently, the award includes a $2,000 college scholarship sponsored by the Missouri Conservation Heritage Foundation, a one-year MOC membership and an all-expense paid trip to MOC’s annual conference. 

Applications for the 2024 “Buck” Rogers Memorial Scholarship are available by clicking the link below.

Please contact our scholarship chair, Neima Shahdadi, at neimashahdadi@gmail.com, or MOC executive director Kyle Stewart at kyle@tbwgroup.net for more information. 

Completed applications and supporting documents must be received (postmarked or emailed) by February 28, 2024. 

Interested students will need to supply the following documents to supplement their applications:

  • Resume or curriculum vitae

  • College or high school transcript (official or unofficial)

  • A one-page double-spaced personal statement detailing applicant’s educational and career goals

  • One writing/media sample, such as:

    • Published outdoor communications work

    • Term paper or essay written on an outdoors or conservation-related topic

  • One letter of recommendation from either:

    • Faculty in the applicant’s field of study

    • Outdoor communicator(s) familiar with the applicant’s work

    • Employer(s) familiar with the applicant’s work


Completed applications and supporting documents must be received (postmarked or emailed) by February 28, 2024 and should be submitted to Neima Shahdadi at neimashahdadi@gmail.com or mailed to:

Neima Shahdadi
210 Lowry Hall
Columbia, MO 65211

ABOUT THE “BUCK” ROGERS MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP:

The scholarship honors the memory of E.L. "Buck" Rogers, a founding member of MOC, who passed away on Dec. 22, 1997, at the age of 74. 

Rogers was born on Jan. 20, 1923, in Columbia, Mo., to O.R. and Edith Rogers. He attended Columbia's Hickman High School, then went on to the University of Missouri-Columbia to earn both a bachelor's degree in art and a master's degree in journalism. 

Rogers was a writer for Field & Stream Magazine and later was public relations director at Johnson Motors in Waukegan, Ill. In 1957, he returned to Columbia to develop an outdoors travel and fishing promotion and advertising company. In addition to co-founding MOC, Rogers was a past president of the Outdoor Writers Association of America (OWAA), and founder and past president of the Association of Great Lakes Outdoor Writers (AGLOW). He also was the author of a political column in the Columbia Daily Tribune. 

PREVIOUS SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS

Year     Recipient, School

2019 Emily Adams, University of Missouri-Columbia

2018 Lauren Plunkett, Drury University and Noah DesCombes, University of Central Missouri

2017    Hunter Whiteley, Kansas State University

2016    Lauren Plunkett, Drury University

2015    Ben Verhoef, University of Missouri-Columbia

2014    Tim Wall, University of Missouri-Columbia

2013    Tyler Mahoney, Rockhurst College

2012    Hannah Rogers, University of Central Missouri

2011    John McLaughlin, University of Missouri-Columbia

2010    Jacob Swafford, University of Missouri-Columbia

2009    Michael Amantea, University of Missouri-Columbia

2008    Christine Tew, University of Missouri-Columbia

2007    Christine Tew, University of Missouri-Columbia

2006    Ashley Berkler, University of Missouri-Columbia

2005    Sara Muri, University of Missouri-Columbia

2004    Kelsey Dayton, University of Missouri-Columbia

2003    Raina Tamsyn Jones, University of Missouri-Columbia

2002    Paul Carr, University of Central Missouri

2001    Gregory Laslo, University of Missouri-Columbia
            Walter Wiese, Truman State University

2000    Kathleen Kerr, University of Missouri-Columbia

1999    Jason L. Jenkins, University of Missouri-Columbia