ADDISON COUNTY — Otter Creek Audubon Society (OCAS) is pleased to announce a scholarship opportunity for the summer of 2017 for teens (ages 14-17) who have a passion for the outdoors. This scholarship is to attend Hog Island Audubon Camp, a renowned summer camp off the coast of Maine run by the National Audubon Society and Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
The full scholarship is available for one of the two Hog Island Audubon’s five-day programs open to teens: Coastal Maine Bird Studies or Marine Natural History. While the Otter Creek Audubon offers an annual scholarship for a local teacher to attend Hog Island Audubon’s special educator’s program, we are offering a full scholarship this year to a student thanks to the fundraising efforts by board member Tyler Pockette.
Pockette received a similar scholarship from OCAS nearly 15 years ago to attend a different Audubon summer camp in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. Pockette’s experience there helped nurture his passion for the outdoors (especially birds), connected him with other teens who shared that same passion and kick-started his future toward an education and career in wildlife biology and conservation.
He now has several years of work experience in wildlife biology, is still an active member of Vermont’s birding community and is a member of the board of directors for the Otter Creek Audubon Society. In an effort to pay forward the opportunity that was given to him as a young teen, he chose to embark on a year-long quest to raise money for a scholarship to send another teen to the Hog Island Audubon Camp.
By combining his two greatest passions of photography and birding, he spent 2016 attempting to photograph as many species of birds in Vermont as he could, while collecting donations along the way from the Vermont birding community. With the year coming to an end, he has currently photographed 257 species and has raised enough money for one full teen scholarship and part of another scholarship. Pockette’s photographs for this fundraising project can be viewed online at https://www.flickr.com/photos/141790488@N02/.
Addison County teens who wish to apply for this scholarship can find details and an application at Otter Creek Audubon Society’s website, http://ottercreekaudubon.org/. The deadline for submitting the application has been extended to Jan. 8, 2017. Call Carol at 802-989-7115 with questions.