Mount Vernon Optic-Herald

Saskia van Gendt was recently honored with a 2010 Service to America Medal for her work combating climate change. She is employed by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency in San Francisco. She was presented the award at a Sept. 15 ceremony in Washington D.C. and was honored for her work by First Lady Michelle Obama. Miss van Gendt, a 1999 graduate of Mount Vernon High School and the daughter of Leonard van Gendt and Larkin Tom, is an environmental science graduate of Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. She started her EPA career as an intern in 2006 at the San Francisco office. For more information, see the Oct. 7 edition of the Optic-Herald.