Wyoming Wildlife May 2024 - 22

Wyoming Wildlife Fellowship member Ryan Loghry teaches a young visitor about bear identification. (Photo by Emalee Smith/WGFD)
WYOMING WILDLIFE
FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM
In 2021, Game and Fish with the University of
Wyoming, under the Haub School of Environment
and Natural Resources, created the Wyoming
Wildlife Fellowship Program. The purpose is to give
undergraduate students pursuing academic coursework
in natural resource management and related
fields firsthand experience working in the field of
natural resource management with a state wildlife
agency to better prepare them for a conservation
career.
" We're trying to craft well-rounded wildlife and
fisheries professionals who not only know about the
ecology of the systems they work in, but also how
to connect with multiple stakeholders and how to
communicate the important details of wildlife and
fisheries management to the public, " said Rhiannon
Jakopak, University of Wyoming Fellowship Program
coordinator.
The program has grown over the past few years to
be a prestigious and respected program that is highly
competitive with limited spots. The fellowship is
open to any student to apply as an incoming freshman,
a transfer student from a community college,
current freshmen or sophomores or anyone with at
least two full years remaining in the undergraduate
degree at the university. Students must apply, interview
and be selected through a rigorous multi-round
process and maintain a 3.0 GPA, demonstrate academic
progress, complete a minimum of 40 hours
22 | March 2024
of volunteer work throughout the school year and
complete two summers working for Game and Fish.
In exchange, the fellows are given an annual scholarship
and the summers are paid internships.
" One of the most beneficial aspects of the program
is that students build connections with wildlife and
fisheries professionals across the state, which will be
incredibly beneficial to these emerging professionals
as they enter the workforce, " Jakopak said.
Aside from the numbers, progress and anecdotal
stories of the fellowship's success, the program has
yielded three hirings of graduates and one of those
students is now a full-time employee at Game and
Fish.
" We have inspired them, trained them and now we
work alongside them - this is the ultimate success
when it comes to education, " said Ashley Leonard,
Game and Fish education supervisor.
CONSERVATION
EDUCATION IN SCHOOLS
After great success with the Inspire a Kid campaign,
a reinvigoration of camps, a steady and
constant demand for hunter education and the solidifying
of the collegiate fellowship program with the
University of Wyoming, Game and Fish saw the gap
in the middle of all of these programs and wanted
to approach education in a more systematic and
sustainable way with Wyoming schools and teachers.
In 2023, Game and Fish, along with education and
conservation partners around the state, launched a
Wyoming Wildlife May 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wyoming Wildlife May 2024
