This week AOS has been celebrating National Volunteer Week on our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts, introducing you to a new AOS volunteer each day. In case you missed those posts, we’ve rounded them up for you here! AOS couldn’t function without the many members who volunteer their time to assist with our meetings, publications, awards, and other programs.
“I signed up to volunteer because I am a firm believer that many hands make light work and if we all help out it will make AOS just that much better! This was also my first conference as a graduate student, and volunteering was a great way to meet other people in the ornithology field. Although it was only twelve hours of volunteer work, I felt like I was able to contribute to the conference and help out the committees working very hard to make it happen.”
— Juita Martinez, Registration Desk Volunteer, 2019 AOS Meeting in Anchorage
“Anyone who publishes papers should help with the review process, both for the necessity of maintaining a large pool of peer reviewers and for the reward. When I review a paper, I delve into it much more than I normally would if I was just reading it. That extra critical thinking is very stimulating for my own research!”
— Lori Hargrove, frequent reviewer for AOS journal The Condor
“The 2019 AOS meeting was my first time serving as a judge for Student Presentation Awards, and it was an incredible and rewarding experience. I’ve been attending AOS meetings since 2009 and have always found the student awards particularly exciting. Finally being on the other side of the curtain as a judge, I was thoroughly impressed by the quality of student talks and the level of detail, rigor, and effort the judges invest in this program. The students of AOS are in good hands!”
— Kyle Horton, Student Presentation Judge, 2019 AOS Meeting in Anchorage
“I’ve served on the AOS Research Awards Committee for 18 years and have been Chair the past 8 years. The workload is intense, but I’ve always enjoyed it and know how important our work is for AOS. The committee members are fantastic and we operate like a well-oiled machine. What I like most about serving on the committee is witnessing how important the awards are for student success. I also get to learn about all the exciting research being conducted by the members of our society!”
— Brian Peer, Chair, AOS Research Awards Committee
“Volunteering for AOS has allowed me to give back to a society that has given a lot to me. Through various positions (Student Travel and Presentations Awards chair, AOS Council member, and now Treasurer), it has been exciting to help keep this a vibrant society that continues to promote ornithology and ornithologists. It has also been great as I have been able to meet a huge number of great people I would not have met otherwise!”
— Rebecca Kimball, AOS Treasurer
A warm thank you to each of them