Wildlife Leadership Academy seeking nominees

Posted on: December 14, 2017 | Bob Frye | Comments

Whe Wildlife Leadership Academy trains students to become conservation ambassadors.

A Wildlife Leadership Academy student writes in her nature journal.

Full disclosure? I’m a volunteer at several of the field schools run by the Wildlife Leadership Academy.

But that doesn’t mean what I’m about to say here is any less true.

These are wonderful camps for high school students interested in the outdoors. What’s more, they’re critically important to producing a generation of young people who care about – and will advocate for – our natural resources.

If you’ve never heard of them, the camps are five-day affairs. One is centered around white-tailed deer, one around bass. Others focus on brook trout, turkeys and ruffed grouse.

All are similar in that students learn about a specific species and its habitat needs. They hear from professional biologists and foresters, land managers and others.

There’s plenty of field research time – there are necropsies of grouse, for example – mixed with fun, like trap shooting.

Along the way, students work in teams. But they also learn to step out on their own and do presentations and become voices for wild things and wild places.

That’s a big goal of the program, in fact. Students are challenged to become “conservation ambassadors” who will return to their own communities and spread the word to others, and especially to other young people.

So that’s where I and some others with experience in the media come in. We teach sessions on how students can reach people through newspapers and other print publications, blogs, television and social media.

The camps are challenging. Students work long days; parents say many spend the ride home sleeping.

But I’ve seen a lot of young people grow and go on to do big things. I expect to be interviewing many in the years ahead as they ascend to positions within federal and state wildlife agencies, conservation organizations, land conservancies and the like.

Even those who go into other fields, though – and maybe in some ways, especially those who go into other fields, as they will have opportunities to preach to someone other than the choir – will likely have big impacts going forward.

The camps are held over summer.

So why talk about them now? It’s application time.

The Leadership Academy is seeking students ages 14 to 17. Nominations are being accepted online.

Nominations come from adults who knows the student well but is not a relative. That means teachers, school counselors, Envirothon advisors, employers, youth group leaders, etc.. Those accepted will get an invitation to apply by Jan. 1.

Nominees should have demonstrated interest in wildlife and/or fisheries conservation. But that doesn’t mean they have to be hunters and anglers.

Over the years the camps have hosted many students with no such background.

Students who complete a camp receive a letter of a recommendation for college applications. They get certification of community service work and a certificate designating them as Conservation Ambassadors, too.

Students are also eligible to apply for three transferable college credits through Cedar Crest College.

And that’s not all. Students can return to the Academy tuition free the following year and even compete for college scholarships. Of course, they join an alumni network of more than 100 wildlife, fisheries, and conservation professionals, as well.

I’ll be at several of the camps this summer, I’m sure, just as I have been since their start more than a decade ago.

Hopefully, some enterprising young people will be, too.

Do you know one? Nominate them. You’ll be helping them an individuals. But what’s more, you’ll be taking a step toward protecting all that we hold close as sportsmen and women, lovers of nature and champions of wild places.

Wildlife Leadership Academy grads in their own voices

How do the field schools run by the Wildlife Leadership Academy impact students? And what do they go on to do, or talk about or experience?

You can hear from them in their own voices at the Academy’s “NextGen” blog. Check it out here.

Bob Frye is the everybodyadventures.com editor. Reach him at 412-838-5148 or bfrye@535mediallc.com. See other stories, blogs, videos and more at everybodyadventures.com.

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