Personnel at two national wildlife refuges and the state department of conservation know they can count on Missouri Western\u2019s student chapter of The Wildlife Society to provide help and extra hands whenever needed. Few student organizations can match the level and amount of volunteer activities and experiences of that group, and the students have the awards to prove it.<\/p>\n
On top of winning the 2011 International Chapter of the Year award, the chapter earned the 2012 North Central Section Student Chapter of the Year for the fifth time, which chapter president Ben Olsen says \u201cis pretty much unheard of.\u201d The group has also won awards from the university\u2019s Student Government Association for their volunteerism.<\/p>\n
And because of that volunteer experience, students who earn a biology degree with \u00a0the conservation and wildlife emphasis are more than ready to step into careers in the field, according to Dr. Cary Chevalier, professor of biology and the group\u2019s advisor.<\/p>\n
Students provide a lot of those volunteer hours at two national wildlife refuges in Missouri. At Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge, near Mound City, Mo., students have been logging more than 1,000 volunteer hours each academic year for several years, and last year, Swan Lake National Wildlife Refuge, near Sumner, Mo., requested assistance from the student chapter.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe get a lot done with them. You name it and we\u2019ve gotten students to help us,\u201d said Ron Bell, manager of Squaw Creek. He said one of the refuge\u2019s missions is to find out more about the wildlife at the refuge, and the students excel in that regard. Between August and early December 2012, the chapter had already logged 800 volunteer hours at Squaw Creek.<\/p>\n
Students help Squaw Creek with their deer surveys, the managed deer hunt, Family Day (students run all booths there), habitat work days and Eagle Days. At Swan Lake, which is in central Missouri, they worked the youth deer hunt and deer surveys last year.<\/p>\n
Caroline Ward, who works at Swan Lake, said the students have helped them a lot since the partnership was formed. \u201cWe were very grateful for their help. We couldn\u2019t have done the deer surveys without them,\u201d she said. \u201cThey are a fantastic group of kids who are willing to work hard and love what they do. I look forward to working with them in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
The students also log a lot of volunteer hours with the Missouri Department of Conservation, teaching hunter safety classes and helping with a variety of activities. This past fall, they helped deliver deer meat as part of the department\u2019s \u201cShare the Harvest\u201d program.<\/p>\n
Senior Margaret Slayton, who has combined a convergent media minor with her biology major, completed an internship at the Department of Conservation headquarters on campus last summer. Her duties included some writing, and that led to a job as the outdoor writer for the St. Joseph News-Press.<\/p>\n
Margaret said Cary advised her early on to get involved in the student chapter. \u201cIf you don\u2019t have experience with professionals, you\u2019re really lacking when you go to look for a job,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Cary noted that it is difficult for an individual student to find a professional who is willing to take them on as a volunteer or for an internship, but belonging to the student chapter paves the way.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou make a lot of friends in the group, but you\u2019re building a resume and building relationships with professionals,\u201d Margaret said.<\/p>\n
Ben, from Lawson, Mo., said he always knew he wanted a career in wildlife management. As a high schooler, he visited campus and talked to Cary about Missouri Western\u2019s program. \u201cAfter that, I knew there was no point in looking anywhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n
And from his first week on campus, Ben has been involved in the student chapter of The Wildlife Society. \u201cThere are days where I\u2019ve worked 16 hours. I\u2019m exhausted but I wake up the next day and say, \u2018wow, that was fun.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Personnel at two national wildlife refuges and the state department of conservation know they can count on Missouri Western\u2019s student chapter of The Wildlife Society to provide help and extra hands whenever needed. Few student organizations can match the level and amount of volunteer activities and experiences of that group, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4168,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582\/revisions\/4168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}