If you were to stop by the Yow Building, you may see a logo containing hieroglyphics, adorning t-shirts and flyers. This unique logo is for the Georgia Wildlife Society.
While The Wildlife Society has been around since 1937. ABAC didn’t form a chapter until the 1970’s. This chapter is comprised of and led by students, with meetings held every two weeks. The current president, Matthew Cooper, listed some of the campus chapter’s activities: “We tend to do a lot of community service projects throughout the year… Jake’s Day, wood duck box building/cleaning, and A Day in the Woods.
He explains the goals for these activities “are events that are put on by the Department of Natural Resources or private landowners that open their land up to the public.”
This allows students the opportunity to enjoy the outdoors while learning about ecosystems and the animals within them. To Matthew, it’s about providing education to the public. While hosting these events, the biggest objective is outreach towards the society. The Wildlife Society wants to teach kids and their parents about the animals here in the Southeast and get them interested. For students who are wanting to participate in the club, Matthew suggests volunteering for the Department of Natural Resource and other organizations.
The Wildlife Society also helps provide the students with career developing opportunities. Another big goal of the society is to get the students to talk to professionals before they graduate, so they can form new connections. The Wildlife Society has quite the schedule coming up as well. On the weekend of September 29, they will be installing wood boxes for former president Jimmy Carter. The Wildlife Society’s biggest event this year, according to Cooper, will be hosting the Southeastern Wildlife Society Conclave.
“There will be around 20 or more schools here with teams of 20 students. Altogether, there will be over 400 wildlife students on ABAC’s campus.” For anyone interested in attending, Conclave will take place on the last weekend of spring break in 2019.
The ABAC Wildlife Society stands as a means of providing experience to wildlife students, whether it be in educating people, or doing hands-on work with the professionals. For anyone interested in joining, the next meeting is on Thursday, Oct. 4, and you can contact Matthew for more information by email at mcooper10@stallions.abac.edu.
