MARTIN, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee at Martin is hosting The Wildlife Society Southeastern Wildlife Student Conclave, during the campus’ spring break, 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. A maximum of 20 students per university will attend.
UT Martin has hosted the conclave once before, in 2008 at Paris Landing State Park.
About 350 people will be attending this year from 20 different universities. They come 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.
Photo – UT Martin students are shown competing in the events at the 2024 Wildlife Society Southeastern Wildlife Student Conclave, held at Murray State University.