UT Martin is hosting The Wildlife Society Southeastern Wildlife Student Conclave on March 27-29.
The conclave, an event that is held every spring, is hosted by a different university each year. Last year, it was held at Murray State University, with 19 UT Martin students competing.
UT Martin has hosted the conclave once before, in 2008 at Paris Landing State Park.
About 350 people will attend this year from 20 different universities. A maximum of 20 students per university will attend, coming from across the Southeast, from Maryland to Florida and from the Atlantic Coast to Arkansas. The first conclave was held almost 50 years ago.
Dr. Eric Pelren, a professor in the Department of Agriculture, Geoscience and Natural Resources, is one of the people ensuring the conclave this year will go smoothly.
“This will be the first time that the conclave has ever been held on the UT Martin campus,” Pelren said, “we are really excited to show off our campus to those other students and universities.”
The three-day conference includes competitions, field trips, workshops and networking activities for all the universities that will be attending. These competitions are ways for the students to use their specific lessons they learn in their wildlife classes to showcase their skills and hone them further.
March 27 and 28 will begin with a “Quiz Bowl,” where a team of four from each university will compete against each other to answer wildlife-related questions. The two-morning event will end with one university bringing home the trophy, a prize that is passed on each year.
Pelren said the afternoon competitions will be divided into multiple specialized events. There is one called team competition, where students from each university will run from table to table, set up all over campus, and answer as many questions as they can in the five minutes they are there. Then a horn will sound, and the five-minute timer will start again until they have completed all 20 tables.
This opportunity will benefit UT Martin wildlife students by allowing them to network with people in their field from all over the Southeast.
“Graduate faculty will be seeing our campus and facilities and experience our content and instruction.” Pelren said. “I think it makes a favorable impression on them, so when they are interviewing our students, they will be more inclined to take them on as grad students.”
The conclave unites students from all over the country to show off the skills they have acquired over their time in their respective wildlife programs. The wildlife students at UT Martin are eager to show off their campus and curriculum to the rest of the Southeastern chapter of the worldwide program.
