WGIDPO: Wildlife Science Careers Programs

野生动物保护协会（WCS）将开发一个令人兴奋的示范项目，旨在引起女孩和年轻女性对科学的兴趣。该项目是与大纽约女童军理事会合作开展的，将以一个非常成功的试点项目为基础，在赠款期间将惠及纽约市6000多名女童，之后将惠及数千名女童。野生动物科学职业计划将得到WCS专业人员的全力支持，其中包括环境教育家、动物馆长、动物饲养员、兽医、保护生物学家、野外科学家、野生动物营养学家、展览设计师等，其中许多是女性。参与的女童子军将会见这些专业人士，观察他们的工作，与他们对话，参与动手项目，并亲身体验为濒危物种和自然栖息地的生存而工作的兴奋和奉献精神。这个为期三年的项目将由五个主要部分组成：(1)在布朗克斯动物园为315名女童子军（年龄在12至50岁之间）举办为期五天的野生动物科学职业研讨会，向她们介绍野生动物科学和保护生物学方面的职业；(2)让参加活动的学员到世界野生动物保护协会的其他四个设施（野生动物保护水族馆和中央公园、展望公园和皇后区的野生动物中心）进行实地考察，让女孩们参与科学探索活动，并结识更多的科学榜样；(3)为学员提供为期两天的培训研讨会，为年轻的女童子军部队提供职业和科学意识讲习班的技能和材料，使学员达到成为女童子军项目助理的必要要求；(4)为36名女童子军领袖提供为期两天的领导力培训课程，使他们能够监督参与学员的进展，并在资助期结束后继续进行关键的计划组成部分；(5)为50名年龄在14至17岁之间的高级女童子军（Senior Girl Scouts）提供实习项目，这些女童子军成功完成培训讲习班，成为项目助理，这将使她们有机会在WCS的五个设施中与科学家和其他专业人员并肩工作。拟议的野生动物科学职业计划是提高女孩和年轻妇女参与科学水平的一种独特手段。该项目采用非竞争性、单一性别的方式，将利用儿童和年轻人对参观动物园等非正式科学中心的热情，激发女孩和年轻女性对科学学习和科学事业的兴趣。非正式的科学机构和女童子军理事会在提高妇女对科学的兴趣、理解和技能方面可以发挥重要作用，在拟议的项目中，WCS开发了一个令人兴奋的模式，有可能在全国范围内复制。

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) will develop an exciting model program designed to interest girls and young women in science. Operated in partnership with the Girl Scout Council of Greater New York, the program will build on a highly successful pilot project to reach over 6,000 girls throughout New York City over the grant period and thousands more thereafter. The Wildlife Science Careers Program will enjoy the full support of the WCS's professional staff, which includes environmental educators, animal curators, animal keepers, veterinarians, conservation biologists, field scientists, wildlife nutritionists, exhibit designers, and others, many of whom are women. Participating Girl Scouts will meet these professionals, observe them at work, engage them in dialogue, take part in hands-on projects, and experience first-hand the excitement and dedication involved in working for the survival of endangered species and natural habitats. The three-year program will consist of five main components: (1) Five-day Wildlife Science Career Workshops at the Bronx Zoo for 315 Cadette Girl Scouts (ages 12 5o 14) that will introduce them to careers in the wildlife sciences and conservation biology; (2) Field experience for the participating Cadettes at the WCS's four other facilities (The Aquarium for Wildlife Conservation and the Wildlife Centers of Central Park, Prospect Park and Queens), through which the girls will engage in science exploration activities and meet additional role models in science; (3) Two-day training seminars for the Cadettes that will provide them with the skills and materials to conduct career and science awareness workshops for troops of younger Girl Scouts, enabling the Cadettes to meet the requirements necessary to become Girl Scout Program Aides; (4) Two-day leadership training courses for 36 Girl Scout Leaders that will enable them to oversee the progress of the participating Cadettes and to continue key program components after the co nclusion of the grant period; and (5) An internship program for fifty Senior Girl Scouts (ages 14 to 17), who successfully complete the training workshops as Cadettes to become Program Aides, that will give them the opportunity to work side-by-side with scientists and other professional staff in the WCS's five facilities. The proposed Wildlife Science Careers Program represents a unique means of increasing the participation level of girls and young women in science. Utilizing a non-competitive, single-sex approach, the program will capitalize on the enthusiasm children and young adults have for visiting informal science centers, such as zoos, to engage the interest of girls and young women in science learning and careers. Informal science institutions and Girl Scout Councils have an important role to play in advancing the interest, understanding and skills of women in science, and in the proposed project, the WCS has developed an exciting model that has the potential to be replicated nationwide.