By Jenn Donovan

In honor of John Wheeler, a School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science student who died in a car crash last fall, Matt Kelly (SFRES) and Jerry Jondreau (SFRES) took four senior students to Houghton High School last week to talk with 10th graders about careers in natural resources.

The visit was spearheaded by John’s father, Bob Wheeler, who wanted to organize this event as a way to honor his son. John often spoke of the importance of raising awareness among high school students of the various educational and career opportunities that exist within the field of natural resources.

“As a result of Bob’s effort and those of our students, we honored John and brought his idea to fruition,” said Kelly.

“Going forward, our hope is that we can build on this momentum and establish an annual program that gets our students into local and regional high schools to talk about natural resources and reflect on their personal experiences,” Kelly went on to say.

Kelly, Jondreau, the students and SFRES have launched a crowdfunding initiative to establish the John H.F. Wheeler Memorial Fund. Through the Superior Ideas crowdfunding site, the money raised will be used to provide awards to deserving SFRES students who are willing to visit local and regional high schools and to cover travel costs.

The John H.F. Wheeler Memorial Fund can be found here.