By Ronica Stromberg
The School of Natural Resources celebrated its annual spring banquet with about 300 people in the Nebraska East Union on April 12. Celebrating under the theme “Together,” this year’s banquet included more student clubs, a new icebreaker for students and 40 more attendees than last year.
“‘Together’ has been our theme for the School of Natural Resources for the 2024-2025 academic year,” Larkin Powell, director of the school, said. “We have higher impact when we collaborate and engage on projects as a team. Our SNR Spring Banquet celebrated a commitment to moving forward as a team, no matter the obstacles before us.”
Begun in 1960 as the Wildlife Club Banquet, the now-schoolwide banquet honors the school’s faculty, students, staff and alumni with awards for their achievements. Eight student clubs handed out awards first at the banquet, followed by the school honoring 13 people with awards (see awards below).
Michael Forsberg, an internationally known conservation photographer, received the prestigious Howard L. Wiegers Nebraska Outstanding Wildlife Conservation Award. The conservation storytelling project he directs, Platte Basin Timelapse, also provided the nature video shown at the banquet. A story about him appears in this issue of Inside SNR, and stories about the other winners will appear in coming issues of Inside SNR.
New this year at the banquet was a bingo game used as an icebreaker. During the 5-to-6-p.m. social hour, students received bingo cards with descriptions of people at the banquet by occupation. The students introduced themselves to people to mark off squares on their cards and get a bingo. Once they had a straight line on their card, students could enter the card in a drawing for prizes.
“A lot of the sponsors, their motivation in attending is to network with students,” said Sarah Thorell, who coordinates the banquet with a team of five staff members and eight student club representatives.
After last year’s banquet, a sponsor suggested offering the bingo activity to give sponsors a chance to interact more with students. The eight sponsors this year included companies like Olsson and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.
“They employ a lot of our students as interns, or they employ a lot of our students after they graduate, and they want to interact with them,” Thorell said. She estimated about a third of the banquet’s attendees were students.
Tallulah McKeug, a sophomore in fisheries and wildlife, succeeded in getting a bingo and said she had fun doing so.
“I like to talk a lot, so I just liked talking to all these different people and seeing what they're here for,” she said.
She met a group of emeriti professors and staff people who helped her identify professionals in her field at the banquet.
“I got to talk to some Game and Parks people,” she said. “That's kind of what I'm looking into, so that was really lovely and I got some business cards.”
Caden Connelly, a junior in fisheries and wildlife, said he met professionals from The Crane Trust and was able to speak with them about internships and fellowships.
“I’m really grateful for the commitment SNR has to connecting students to professionals and future employers,” he said. “The banquet is a great asset for SNR students to engage in their future.”
These positive responses echoed the feedback Thorell said the organizing team received after last year’s banquet.
“I think people really loved it,” she said. “I think the feedback overall was really positive. We had a lot of our sponsors that were sponsors last year who reached out after the banquet, wanting to be sponsors this year, so I think that's always a good sign.”
Next year’s banquet is set for Saturday, April 11, 2026. Powell encouraged everyone to come back for it.
Additional Award winners were:
Graduate Student Meritorious Award
Jake Harvey - MS Student
Katie Campbell - PhD Student
Postdoctoral Excellence Award
Dr. Sumaiya Tabassum
Staff Recognition Award
Abbey Snyder
Jeremy Hiller
Staff Inspiration Award
Jeremy Hiller
Faculty Inspiration Award
Dr. Daniel Uden
Early Career Faculty Award
Ann Powers
Dr. Mark Vrtiska
Extended Service Faculty Award
Dr. David Wedin
Early Career Excellence Alumni Award
Wyatt Koehler
Distinguished Service Alumni Award
Tony Barada (Read more about Tony)
Club and CASNR handed out awards too.
Herpetology Club
Timber Rattlesnake Award: Kaitlyn Hanson
Blanding's Turtle Award: Trevor Johnson
Tadpole Award: Regan Grau
Out in CASNR Club
Kennedy Whiting
Range Management Club
Trailblazer Award: Clara Freese
Trail Boss Award: Sam Morrow & Sheridan Wilson
Wildlife Club
Brian Smith Outstanding Student Award: Calysta Gemar
Ron Case Scholarship: Calysta Gemar & Sarah Springer