Where Are They Now?
2010 Winner
Melissa Bueker
Missouri
With only a semester at Missouri State University on her resumé, Melissa is still making good use of the national scholarship she received from the NWTF and Mossy Oak less than a year ago. The honor student will spend her summer interning with the Missouri Department of Conservation. She is still active in the National FFA Organization, having recently received her State FFA Degree.
2009 Winner
Mandy (Bowering) Carter
Georgia
Education: Mandy moved from California to pursue a degree in aerospace engineering at Georgia Tech.
Career plans: Mandy hopes to work for NASA, Boeing or Lockheed Martin.
Family: Mandy married a military man this January. They live in LaGrange, halfway between Atlanta, where she goes to school, and Ft. Benning, where her husband is stationed.
Outdoors: Mandy hasn't been hunting since high school, but she's an active angler.
2008 Winner
Anna Lee Harris
Alabama
Education: Anna Lee is a senior at the University of Alabama, majoring in elementary education. She's a student in the Honors College.
Career plans: Anna Lee hopes to teach in an elementary school or preschool. She would like to eventually earn a master's degree in education and possibly pursue a career as an administrator.
Outdoors: Last semester, Anna Lee was placed in a kindergarten class [to do her student teaching], where she did a lesson on the wild turkey. "Seeing the students' excitement about touching a real wild turkey feather was great," she said. "But it made me realize that many children aren't as blessed as I was to grow up knowing about wild animals and the conservation efforts to protect them." Anna Lee is still a proud NWTF member and attends the National Convention and Sport Show in Nashville with her father every year.
2007 Winner
Andrew Payne
Texas
Education: Andrew is pursuing his degree at Texas A&M, where he's also a student senator and a writer for the Lone Star Montgomery Campus News. His junior year, he founded a nonprofit organization to help area homeless people.
Career plans: Andrew is planning on a career in medicine, focusing on an RN degree now, with hopes of going on to medical school. He will then work in an orphanage near Mbale, Uganda.
Outdoors: Andrew enjoys bowhunting but has devoted much of his spare time more recently to other projects, such as urban gardening initiatives that promote responsible land use and a healthy lifestyle.
2006 Winner
Victoria Scott
Colorado
Education: Victoria received a bachelor's degree in biochemistry and one in soil and crop science from Colorado State University in 2006. She is working on her Ph.D. in soil chemistry at Iowa State University.
Outdoors: Victoria is a Life Member of the NWTF. "I've only missed five weekends of hunting during the last two fall semesters," she said. "My junior year, I almost didn't pass a Calculus II exam, because I spent the weekend helping my brother pack out his trophy elk. I'd never trade that experience, because there is more to life than a 4.0."
2005 Winner
David Edson
South Carolina
Education: David graduated from Furman University in 2009 with a bachelor's degree in physics. This May, he received his master's in mechanical engineering from North Carolina State University.
Career: David interned at General Electric for three summers during college. This summer, he's starting his career as an engineer with Eaton Corporation in Jackson, Miss. He's part of a three-year leadership program to train managers for the company.
Outdoors: David dove hunted during his first few years of college, but hasn't had the chance to do much since. "I hope to get back into hunting once I start working. I miss it," he said. "When I have kids, I definitely want to teach them how to hunt."
2004 Winner
Cody Rosania
Arizona
Education: Cody received an extended degree in pre-forensic chemistry and criminal justice from Northern Arizona University. His senior project was on the lead levels in ducks, after it became illegal to use lead shot for hunting in the state.
Career: After interning for Norchem Drug Testing Lab in Flagstaff, Cody was hired as a certifying scientist.
Outdoors: Cody took over the family business, Sundowner Guide Service, this year, after his father retired. He is looking forward to guiding clients, but says he'll always make time to share a campfire with friends.
2003 Winner
Chanda Cooper
South Carolina
Education: Chanda received a bachelor's degree in biology and a Master's of Earth and Environmental Re-sources Management from the University of South Carolina.
Career: Chanda is the education program coordinator for the Richland County Environmental Planning Division. Her job is to coordinate activities that raise awareness of conservation issues. "Wherever I work," she said, "I hope to share my passion for the outdoors with others and encourage them to become better environ-mental stewards."
Outdoors: Chanda lives on her family's farm, where she enjoys exploring the woods and creeks and working in the fields when she's not on the job. She still finds time to hunt, but not as much as she'd like to.
2002 Winner
Bradley Herrin
Arizona
Education: Brad graduated from the University of Arizona in 2006 with a bachelor's degree in physiology. He earned his medical degree from the University of Washington School of Medicine this June.
Career: Brad began his pediatrics residency at Yale (New Haven Hospital) this summer.
Family: Brad is married and has a 5-year-old son.
2001 Winner
Nathan Williams
Kentucky
Education: Nathan majored in agricultural economics at the University of Kentucky. After graduating in 2004, he attended the university's College of Law on a Wethington Fellowship.
Career: Nathan practices law at a firm in Louisville, where he represents injured plaintiffs.
Family: Nathan and his wife are expecting their first child in September. "We just found out that it's a boy," he said, "so hopefully I'll have a hunting buddy in a few years."
Outdoors: Nathan still helps out on the family farm where he was raised. He also owns a farm nearby where he has established riparian buffers to help protect the property's streams. He hunts a few times a year and attends local NWTF fundraisers when he can.
2000 Winner
Jonathan May
Jonathan May passed away in 2009, but not without leaving a legacy to his family, friends and everyone who helped him during his battle with cancer. He was only 27.
The avid outdoorsman was an All-Star athlete and honor student in high school, which earned him the local, state and national NWTF scholarships his senior year.
He graduated from Fort Hays State University with a degree in geosciences, then at-tended the Medical University of Ohio in Toledo, where he earned a master's degree in public health epidemiology in December 2008.
Jon was diagnosed with alveolar soft part sarcoma cancer in 2006. During his struggle, he traveled to 15 hospitals in nine states, but he also had an audience with Pope Benedict XVI, met the New York Yankees and was on the sidelines for a Notre Dame football game.
He met the love of his life in August 2007, and they married the following year. "Through their love for each other, they were able to fight through the pain and hardship that came with his disease," Jonathan's best friend, Jeremy, wrote about the couple. "The strength they found in each other's arms is an inspiration to all. Although their time together was short, the love they shared allowed them both to experience life beyond their years."
1999 Winner
Mike Kromrey
Missouri
Education: Mike received a bachelor's degree in biology from Missouri State University in 2004 and stayed there to complete his master's degree in biology in 2006.
Career: Mike is the education/outreach coordinator for the Watershed Committee of the Ozarks, which helps people understand where their water comes from and how they can protect it. "My job is great," he said, "because improving the quality of our drinking water supply and promoting water conservation usu-ally benefits our local stream ecosystems, too."
Family: Mike and his wife, Mary, have 4-year-old Eli. Mike says the coolest thing in the world for him is exploring nature with his son.
Outdoors: Mike is still a member of the NWTF and enjoys hunting turkeys in his home state.
