Scholarships

The Life Membership Fund Scholarship will be awarded to students in a field related to the Wild Sheep Foundation's endeavors. Specifically degrees in wildlife management, wildlife biology, and wildlife pathology. An area of focus on wild sheep is preferred but not necessary. This year a scholarship will be awarded to an undergraduate and another to a graduate student. The recipients will each be awarded a $5,000 scholarship for schooling.

 
Travel to the Wild Sheep Foundation’s national convention, the Sheep Show in Reno, Nevada (travel expenses covered) to assist with running the Youth Wildlife Conservation Experience (YWCE). This three-day event includes students being bused in to learn about careers in the outdoors, wildlife conservation, and hands-on learning experiences. The individual would most likely also be one of the keynote speakers during the event.
 
During the same Sheep Show, the individual would also be involved with helping run other aspects of the Sheep Show. Additionally, the applicant must be a member of Wild Sheep Foundation (can occur after scholarship is offered).

DOWNLOAD SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION

This year’s scholarship application is due by 6:00 PM (PST) • March 1 by submitting to rbrock@wildsheepfoundation.org.

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YOUTH EDUCATION PROGRAMS 

• Youth Wildlife Conservation Experience (YWCE)
• Youth Curriculum & Lesson Plans
• Shooting, Hunting & Ethics Education Programs (S.H.E.E.P.)
• Nevada Outdoor Experience
• Scholarships
• Townsend Youth Conservation Award

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WSF LIFE MEMBERSHIP FUND SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS 2025

 

GRADUATE

FIRST PLACE - Dylan Stewart $5,000 + TRIP TO SHEEP SHOW

Dylan Stewart is working towards a Ph.D. degree in the Department of Rangeland, Wildlife, and Fisheries Management at Texas A&M University. His research aims to identify the factors that influence translocation success of desert bighorn sheep in Senora, Mexico. While pursuing his associate degree, Dylan volunteered with the Arizona Game and Fish Department to check bighorn cameras and construct water catchment systems for wildlife. He has also assisted the National Park Service and the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum to remove invasive buffelgrass to restore habitat for native species. In Florida and Georgia, he assisted biologists to capture and band Northern Bobwhite to check habitat quality and estimate chick survival. In Alabama, he assisted the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to mentor and teach youth primitive survival skills. More recently, Dylan led research projects focused on assessing movement, space use, habitat selection, and survival of white-tailed deer using GPS data. In 2022-2023, his work focused on restoring rocky mountain bighorn sheep in Hells Canyon, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington and the surrounding areas. He has given 38 presentations at conferences from Alaska to Maryland while co-authoring another eight. His goal upon completion of his Ph.D. is to continue as a post-doc at Texas A&M for two years to untangle the relationship between resident bighorn sheep conspecific density and the time it takes translocated bighorn sheep to settle into their new environment. After that, he hopes to join Borderlands Research Institute as a post-doc researcher, researching desert bighorn sheep in Texas. Eventually, he’d like to return to Arizona and work as a professor or with Arizona Game and Fish Department as a senior research biologist.

SECOND PLACE – Jeff Tillery $2,500 

UNDERGRADUATE

FIRST PLACE - Brooke Lakin $5,000 + TRIP TO SHEEP SHOW

Brooke Lakin’s journey as a wildlife conservation ambassador began when she was eight years old when she started volunteering at the nature center at Indiana Dunes State Park.  To this day she still volunteers there, assisting with trail maintenance, animal care, and programming, including Project Owlnet where she gathers data and helps visitors to understand the migration of the Northern Saw-Whet Owl. All of this led to the Indiana State Park Volunteer of the Year is 2018. She has been President of high school Environthon team, the Science Club, and Captain of the Quiz Bowl team. She was captain of the varsity bowling team and head manager of the baseball team. Brooke will be working towards a Bachelor of Science in Wildlife with the goal of becoming a wildlife educator, hopefully working for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to educate others on the importance of wildlife conservation. Brooke will be attending Purdue University in the fall of 2025.

SECOND PLACE - Taylen Libsack $2,500