SSAR is pleased to announce that it will provide funds for selected junior and senior high school students who are budding herpetologists and wish to interact with advanced students and professionals with similar interests. Some pre-baccalaureate students already have knowledge about amphibians and reptiles, but wish to learn more about the field of herpetology. Attending our annual meeting, which will be held at the Snowbird Resort, near Sandy, Utah, from July 24–28, 2019, would provide such an opportunity. See the following website for more information: conferences.k-state.edu/JMIH2019. The meeting is the Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (JMIH).
An anonymous donor has made funds available to support several students in 2019. These awards will cover the student’s registration fees and may possibly help to defray some other expenses.
Students who wish to apply must provide the following information by email:
- A one-page, double-spaced statement about why you wish to attend and what you expect to gain from the experience. Please include what grade in school you will be entering in the fall of 2019. Please send this statement as an attachment.
- A letter of support from your teacher or guidance counselor endorsing your application and certifying that you are a current student at his/her school. Please send this letter as an attachment.
- One of your parents must agree to attend the meeting with you to act as chaperone. The parent must send an email agreeing to attend the meeting with you. Applications without this email of agreement will not be considered.
- Budget. If you need to have more than the registration fee covered, please explain what amount you would need and what it would be used for. Note that we cannot cover a parent’s expenses, and only under unusual circumstances can we allot much more than the cost of registration fees to any one student. The budget information should be included in the email message sent with your statement.
All application materials must be sent before 25 February 2019. Send to: Dr. John Maerz, Chair of the SSAR Pre-College Awards Committee, at jcmaerz@uga.edu. Only complete applications that include the four items above will be considered.
Awards will be announced by 5 March 2019. All funds will be made available at the meeting in Snowbird.
A requirement of these meeting awards is that students must provide a few paragraphs about their experiences at the meeting. (For example: Was the experience valuable, and if so, in what ways? How can the experience be improved?). This report should be sent to Dr. Maerz no later than one month after the meeting ends.