The Wildlife Society’s Annual Conference provides an excellent opportunity for students to make connections and expand their professional horizons. Those who attend the conference gain valuable tools and information, potential leads on jobs in their chosen fields—and memories that will last a lifetime. The Wildlife Society’s Student Professional Development Working Group (SPDWG) has compiled the following stories from four young people who have attended prior conferences—and who encourage other students to do the same.
Kirstin Lawrence-Apfel, North Franklin, Connecticut
Kirstin Lawrence-Apfel cradles a bear cub while working on a bear-tagging project in Connecticut. Photo Credit: Mellissa Ruszczyk
Active in TWS’s student chapter at the University of Connecticut, Kirstin Lawrence-Apfel attended the Annual Conference in Tucson in 2007 to present a project at the Student Research-in-Progress Poster Session. “It was a great, low-stress introduction to a professional society,” she says, and it gave her a chance to “present my research to peers.”
Lawrence-Apfel attended many of the Student-Professional activities and brought the information she gained back to her chapter. “I was blown away by the focus on students,” Lawrence-Apfel says. “There were focus groups generating ideas for fundraising, membership, and resume and skills building.” She was particularly impressed by the mentoring program. “
It matched students with a professional working in their area of interest,” she says. “These professionals took their responsibilities very seriously, saying that we students are, after all, the next generation of professionals, so they have a vested interest in helping us do well.”
Anita L. Barstow, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Anita Barstow holds one of about 300 alligator snapping turtles (Macrochelys temminckii) being moved from a fish hatchery in Arkansas to the Tishomingo National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma. Photo Credit: C. O’Meilia
Anita Barstow was an undergraduate student at Rogers State University (RSU) in Oklahoma when she first heard about The Wildlife Society and chose to attend its Annual Conference in Anchorage, Alaska, in 2006—a decision she describes as a pivotal point in her wildlife career.
Through the conference she “gained valuable insights into the jobs and careers available in the field of wildlife.” She soon joined the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), which sent her to the TWS Annual Conference in Tucson in 2007.
There she presented a poster about her studies of woodland bat populations in an Oklahoma nature preserve using the ANABAT frequency detector. At the Tucson conference she also met a professor from Oklahoma State University, a connection that led her to enroll in OSU, where she is now a master’s degree student studying natural resource ecology and management.
In addition to her studies and her job with FWS’s Division of Ecological Services in Tulsa, Barstow is looking forward to attending this year’s TWS conference in Miami, where she hopes her story will help inspire other young wildlife professionals.
“I believe that TWS was instrumental in my professional development at FWS just as it continues to be today.”
Daniel Price, Stephenville, Texas
Daniel Price enjoys networking with colleagues at a state wildlife meeting in San Antonio, Texas. Photo Courtesy of Daniel Price
At the 2007 Annual Conference in Tucson, fellow students called Daniel Price “the politician” because he attended as many sessions as possible, talking to everyone and handing out business cards. “The things you learn and the people you can meet are amazing,” says Price, an undergraduate student at Tarleton State University in Texas.
“Most of the wildlife professionals who attend these meetings are either potential employers or advisors.” He tells students to not be shy to start a conversation with a random person because “that conversation could very well lead you to a great opportunity.”
He also highly recommends the conference mentoring program, through which students can gain advice on how to land a wildlife job or make it into graduate school. Price’s persistence paid off. At the Tucson conference he met a refuge manager who offered him his current internship at the Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge.
“These conferences are what you make them,” Price says. “You can meet people, make friends, and have the time of your life while making memories that you will never forget.”
Katie Moriarty, Oregon State University
Researcher Katie Moriarty helps test an active infrared camera that will be used to document the occurrence of American martens (Martes americana) in California’s Sierra Nevadas. Photo Courtesy of USFS
Katie Moriarty of Oregon State University is a veteran of TWS Annual Conferences, having attended in Burlington, Vermont, in 2003 and Anchorage, Alaska, in 2006. In Alaska, where she was selected to participate in the Leadership Institute, she was able to “pester” her way into a slot in a master’s program at Oregon State University, where she’s currently a student.
Moriarty admits that, for students, getting to Annual Conference can be costly, time-consuming, and a little intimidating. But she also finds it an invaluable experience. “For a wildlife student, conferences such as these provide important, perhaps essential, elements to your future career,” she says. “Professional development through the Leadership Institute, resume workshops, and mentoring are key features for students who attend.
There are opportunities to network, meet potential employers, and see what other students are doing throughout the country. These conferences are essential for every career transition.”
