Osborne Receives Student Conservationist of the Year Award
Shane Osborne, a fall semester 1999 graduate of UMC’s
Natural Resources program, was highly honored at the annual meeting of the
Minnesota Chapter of The Wildlife Society held recently in St. Cloud.
He received the chapter’s award for Student Conservationist of
the Year in competition with wildlife management, biology, and ecology
majors in all of Minnesota’s colleges and universities.
“We are delighted with this wonderful recognition for Shane and the accolades it brings UMC and other natural resource majors,” noted Dan Svedarsky, of UMC Natural Resources program. “Two years ago, Myron Weltikol of our program also won this award.”
Osborne is a native of Pelican Rapids and plans to eventually become a Conservation Officer with the Minnesota DNR. He is currently enrolled in an intensive Law Enforcement program at the Alexandria Technical College for additional preparatory training. He has also sought work experiences to prepare him for this goal as well; working with the Ottertail County Sheriff’s Office, biotech with the USFWS, and watercraft inspector with the MNDNR in the Metro area. It is not surprising that Shane would adopt the goal of becoming a Conservation Officer since his grandfather, Ray Jensen, is one of most highly regarded Conservation Officers in the state.
Osborne was very active in campus leadership at UMC as a student senator and President of the Natural Resources Club. These are time-consuming tasks but he recognized the personal development values of these activities and is simply a service-oriented individual. He was the 1999 recipient of the Norman Pankratz Conservation Award, the highest honor a student can receive at UMC in recognition of conservation achievements and potential. Additionally, he was an active volunteer with environmental education related activities on campus and at the Red River Valley Natural History Area.
“It has been a pleasure working with Shane over the last 4 years; he has bloomed as an individual, contributed to the wildlife resource, and served as a great role model and mentor to other students in the program,” said Phil Baird, Osborne’s advisor at UMC. “Shane will make a fine Conservation Officer because of his people skills and his conservation commitment. Since CO’s are such a front-line and visible representative of conservation agencies, we simply cannot have enough people like him working in the field and carrying the conservation message to the public.”
Osborne also received high marks in a nomination letter from his high school mentor and FFA teacher, Bill Januszewski. “Shane started a tradition of success here and I greatly appreciate that. I attribute our success in the state wildlife contests to his guidance with the younger students. His positive leadership rubbed off on many of his fellow club members, especially on leadership retreats. I even trusted him with the keys to my truck to go uptown and get a part for a project! My students know it is not that easy to earn that privilege but he had that trust and a whole lot more.”
Posted by Andrew Svec 01/31/2000
Contact: Curt Almlie,
218-281-8436