The Conservation Federation of Missouri (CFM) honored Dr. Gina Wood, instructor of childhood education and family studies, and freshman Brooke Widmar, both at Missouri State University, on March 19 at the 2015 Conservation Achievement Awards ceremony held in Jefferson City. The annual ceremony is intended to honor leading citizen conservationists and national resource professionals around Missouri.

Award Details

Wood was the recipient of the Conservation Educator of the Year award for her work with the Discover Nature Teachers program at Missouri State. The program is designed to submerge future teachers in nature, giving them the knowledge, experience and confidence to use the outdoors to teach their students how important conservation is in daily life.

Widmar received the Youth Conservationist of the Year award. Widmar was selected because she demonstrated the ability and potential to lead conservation and community efforts. According to the CFM, she is an avid outdoors person, a community volunteer, a youth philanthropist, a skilled organizer, a fundraiser, an effective leader and a committed conservationist.

In addition, the Greater Ozarks Audubon Society (GOAS) was the recipient of the Conservation Organization of the Year award. GOAS partners with Missouri State’s Bull Shoals Field Station during the summer on a development program called Green Leadership Academy for Diverse Ecosystems (GLADE).  The program is a week-long biology and leadership excursion for high school students from southwestern Missouri designed to enhance the quality of life in the Ozarks through conservation and environmental education.