Ossineke’s Meag Schwartz Wins ‘Lead Dream Chaser’ Competition
Ossineke native Meag Schwartz was named the first ever winner of the Chevrolet ‘lead Dream Chaser’ competition for her efforts to clean up the Great Lakes.
Schwartz submitted a Tik Tok for the competition showing the work she’s done as part of her ‘Great Lakes Great Responsibility’ passion project. Chevrolet will award her with $100,000 and three months with their 2024 Chevy Trax.
Schwartz, known as ‘The Great Lakes Litter Lady,’ now has the opportunity to expand her passion project’s work, while remaining with the Northeast Michigan Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative full–time. She will also document her journey on social media so people can continue to follow her journey.
“It was surreal honestly;” said Schwartz. “The experience was a Zoom call with Chevy officials, and they told me over the Zoom call, and it was, you know, tears come to your eyes, goose bumps, thinking ‘what are you going to do with all this money?’ and those kind of feelings.”
Schwartz will receive the Chevy Trax in May and use it to organize a beach cleanup of all five of the Great Lakes, hoping to pick up one million pieces of trash.
“I’m hoping that we can really double or triple our impact and climb higher and higher to that number, that one million number for the Great Lakes One Million Challenge,” she said.
