Field study increases student’s interest in wildlife

Nicholas capped off a six-week special summer program with Environmental Science and Math Educational Talent Search by spending the last day with Oklahoma State University natural resource and ecology management faculty and graduate students.

“I’m really into environmental science,” said Nicholas, a 10^th-grader from Montgomery, Texas.

She listened intently to Dwayne Elmore, OSU Cooperative Extension wildlife biologist and assistant NREM professor, who spoke about plant and animal diversity in Oklahoma and the effect this year’s higher-than-average rainfall is having on both.

Nicholas and 38 other high school students from a six-state region recently participated in a full day of activities with NREM Cooperative Extension wildlife and natural resource specialists touring the OSU Range Research Station and the OSU Arboretum.

The mostly 15-to 17-year-old students were treated to hands-on instruction by both faculty and graduate students on topics that included potential side effects on habitat and wildlife from global warming, plant diversity and the prescribed use of fire as a range management tool.

The ESM students also spent time in the afternoon working with global positioning system and geographic information system applications with Mark Gregory, NREM GIS researcher. They watched bird dogs wearing special GPS data gathering collars work during a morning activity and later came into the OSU lab to see how that information is plotted by computer to be used by researchers who study the habits of specific wildlife.

Rogers State University’s Penny Pricer, ESM program director, and Letitia Richardson, Upward Bound counselor, both accompanied the group throughout the intense six-week session.

In Stillwater, students had dinner at a popular campus hangout before going to a movie. They spent Thursday night in a dormitory on campus before the environmental science activities on Friday. 

Based at RSU in Claremore, the students were able to visit several campuses during the summer, including a trip to Colorado to see the U.S. Air Force Academy.

Pricer and Richardson said the national program has been successful in increasing college enrollment of minority students in both science and math related majors.

An OSU graduate, Pricer said she is hopeful she will be able to increase involvement between the program she directs at RSU and OSU because of educational activities like those offered the students by the NREM department.

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Dwayne Elmore talks about diversity in nature and how it supports wildlife in a recent outing by high school students taking part in a summer science and math program at Rogers State University.  (Photo by Todd Johnson)

Oklahoma State University, U.S. Department of Agriculture, State and Local Governments Cooperating:  The Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service offers its programs to all eligible persons regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, disability, or status as a veteran, and is an equal opportunity employer.