Photo submitted to Times Observer The deadline for applying for Audubon Community Nature Center’s 2019 Ryan Exline Memorial Scholarship is Monday, March 18. In 2009, Audubon’s education staff named their annual scholarship in honor of Exline, who was closely involved with them for many years. He is pictured here in the center back with one of his Summer Day Camp groups and the bluebird nest box they built and decorated.

Audubon Community Nature Center (ACNC) is accepting applications for students with an interest in wildlife and nature education.

The deadline for applying for the 2019 Ryan Exline Memorial Scholarship is Monday, March 18. Since 2003, the education staff of the Nature Center has held an annual birdathon to raise money to award a $500 scholarship to an area college-bound high school senior or Jamestown Community College student who intends to pursue a bachelor’s degree in an environmental or related field.

In 2009, this scholarship award was named in honor of Ryan Paul Exline, a graduate student at Duke University who was studying for a Conservation Degree. Exline received this scholarship in 2004, using it to attend a herpetology camp in Vermont. On his return, he was instrumental in setting up some of the Nature Center’s herp programs for teens.

An integral part of the Audubon family for many years, the Russell resident was 22 when he died in 2008 from injuries sustained in an automobile accident.

More information and application forms for scholarships are online at auduboncnc.org/scholarships. Applications can also be obtained by calling (716) 569-2345 or emailing shatfield@auduboncnc.org.