The Haidee Antram Award was created 25 years ago by John and Elizabeth Newberry in honor of their daughter Haidee, who was an enthusiastic volunteer at the Green Mountain Audubon Center. This award is a scholarship given to an exceptional intern or volunteer at the GMAC and is intended to further the recipient’s education and experience in the natural world. This year the GMAS is pleased to announce that Gus Lunde is the 2019 Haidee Antram Award recipient.
Mark LaBarr, Gus Lunde, and Emily Kaplita
Photo by Karyn Lunde
Gus is a senior at Champlain Valley Union high school and has a long history of involvement with Audubon Vermont and it’s educational programs. Gus came to the Green Mountain Audubon Center in Huntington as a preschooler and summer camper many years ago. In 2017 Gus returned to the Center as a Councilor-in-Training and has continued to be a councilor for the past three years. In their letter nominating Gus for the Haidee Antram Award Debbie Archer, the Education Program Coordinator at AV and teacher/naturalist Emily Kaplita highlighted Gus’s energy, enthusiasm, and reliability as well as his ability to connect with the children participating in their environmental education programs.
This past summer Gus joined Mark LaBarr’s migratory bird banding project at the Center. Building on this experience Gus incorporated his newly-developed bird banding skill into his graduation project at CVU. working with teacher/advisor Dave Trevithick monitoring a site at CVU that has been managed for shrubland birds by Audubon Vermont. This project includes using a listening device to detect bird and bat species within the managed area.
It is noteworthy that Gus is the first high school student to receive the Haidee Antram Award in the 25 years of its existence, which speaks well for his many contributions to the Green Mountain Audubon Center’s programs. We wish him well in his future career and look forward to his continued involvement in conservation efforts in Vermont.