Madelyn Rupp and Justin Jenkins Receive 2025 SOBA Scholarships
- soba78
- Jul 14
- 2 min read
SOBA has announced that the recipients of the 2025 Paul Bisso Beach Preservation Scholarship will be Madelyn Rupp and Justin Jenkins, both of Galveston, Texas. Each will receive $2,000 to further their studies in Marine Biology.
Although Ms. Madelyn Rupp grew up in the Buffalo area of New York State, she felt the pull of marine creatures through family vacations to Sarasota, Florida. One of her life-changing experiences was helping to release 60 sea turtle hatchlings. As a result, she signed up for the Sea Turtle Conservation and Research Program’s Nesting Internship. The internship provided her with a “lasting love” of sea turtles, marine conservation, and coastal ecosystems. This led her to marine biology graduate studies at Texas A&M in Galveston.
Mr. Justin Jenkins graduated from high school in North Carolina and has gone on to Texas A&M University at Galveston to study Marine Biology. His research experience includes leading a behavioral ecology project through a National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates, conducting stable isotope analysis in sea turtle ecology labs, and developing a senior thesis on Florida water birds’ food web dynamics. He is now pursuing a PhD in marine trophic ecology.
The scholarship is named in honor of Surfside Beach resident Paul Joseph Bisso, an avid surfer who tragically lost his life in a car accident in 2013. He was a graduate of Klein Collins High School in Spring, Texas, and the son of former Surfside Beach Mayor, Gregg Bisso.
The funding program is a scholarship for college tuition and fees. The program does not offer grants for conducting research or attending conferences.
