06-30-06

Media Release

OSU Student's Bird Savvy Helps Snare $5,000 Scholarship

CORVALLIS, Ore. – An Oregon State University sophomore from Creswell has earned a Morris K. Udall Undergraduate Scholarship for environmental stewardship.

Noah Strycker, a 2003 graduate of South Eugene High School, is one of 80 students from 59 colleges and universities across the country to have been selected as a 2006 Udall Scholar. Each scholarship provides up to $5,000 for one year.

"Noah Strycker's receipt of the prestigious Udall Scholarship is evidence not only of his talents and potential, but the quality of his experiences at OSU," said Joe Hendricks, dean of the University Honors College.

Majoring in fisheries and wildlife sciences, with a minor in fine arts, Strycker has a passion for birds and spends much of his time out of the classroom photographing, drawing, researching and writing about birds.

"I've been an active birder for a long time,” Strycker said. “My goal is to promote things about birding that get more people involved with birds.”

After graduating high school and before arriving at OSU, he spent several months traveling to popular birding areas. He is an associate editor for Birding magazine, a columnist for WildBird magazine and a book reviewer for Birder's World magazine. He is also a field notes editor for Oregon Birds.

In 2004, he was named Young Birder of the Year by the American Birding Association and his bird artwork has appeared in local, regional and national publications.

"Noah obviously prepared the kind of application and essays that caught the eye of the Udall Scholarship screening committee," Hendricks said. "He is one of only 19 sophomores to receive the Udall award, which will undoubtedly ensure that he moves on to make significant contributions to our understanding of environmental issues."

Strycker became interested in birds while a fifth-grade student at Oak Hill School in Eugene.

"Our teacher would stop class whenever a cool bird showed up."

Soon he was building birdhouses to place around his home.

"I got bluebirds at our house and that got me pretty excited. I started my birding in my backyard and moved out from there."

The Morris K. Udall Scholarship and Excellence in National Environmental Policy Foundation was authorized by Congress in 1992 to honor Udall's legacy of public service, both as a congressman and a member of the Army Air Corps during World War II.