NEWS RELEASE

Contact: Jan Fiderio at 603.283.2107

October 7, 2008 for Immediate Release

Student Helps The Loon Preservation Committee Get Grant

July graduate Jill Rolph writes grant for Antioch University New England class Project

Keene, NH - Thanks to a grant written by Antioch University New England graduate Jill Rolph, the Loon Preservation Committee of Moultonborough, New Hampshire hosted multiple volunteer training sessions across the state this past summer. The committee uses citizen scientist volunteers to collect field data and to educate local residents. The grant helps ensure that these volunteers are consistently trained so that the data they collect is accurate, reliable, and uniform.

The New Hampshire Charitable Foundation (NHCF) awarded the $15,000 statewide community impact grant on June 30 and recently extended it through October 2009 so that the committee can use any remaining funds to help train its 2009 volunteers.

The Loon Preservation Committee (LPC) relies on volunteers from across the state to conduct an annual loon census, build nest rafts, post educational signs, document locations where loons breed or nest. Volunteers also look for dead loons or unhatched loon eggs to determine contaminant levels and cause of death. Currently, the committee's research represents the most complete study of a loon population anywhere in the world.

Thanks to the NHCF grant, Jill, who now serves as the LPC's Loon Education Project Director, has conducted conservation or loon preservation workshops and training at the Harris Center in Hancock, at the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (DES), at the NH Lakes Association, at the Derry Humane Society, and at the Monadnock and the Manchester Audubon Societies.

Jill wrote the first draft of the grant while taking a grant writing class at Antioch University New England. For her second AUNE master's practicum project, Jill wrote the volunteer training program protocol that she now uses for the LPC trainings. In addition to her work as the Loon Education Project Director for the committee, Jill is an adjunct in the liberal arts program at Southern New Hampshire University and at Manchester Community College.

Jill earned her MS in environmental studies with an individualized major in endangered species management and biological conservation from Antioch University New England in July of 2008. Her conservation field biology background includes work with both loon preservation and sea turtle conservation.

About the Loon Preservation Committee
The Loon Preservation Committee is a nonprofit that works to preserve loons and their habitats, through research, management and educational activities. The Loon Center is located on the Markus Wildlife Sanctuary on Lake Winnipesaukee in Moultonborough, New Hampshire. If you would like more information about the Loon Preservation Committee visit: www.loon.org or call: (603) 476-5666.

About Antioch University New England (AUNE)
This is Antioch University New England's forty-sixth year as an institution of higher education. Located in Keene, New Hampshire, AUNE offers rigorous, practice-oriented, values-based master's, doctoral, and certificate programs to more than one thousand students. Degrees in education, leadership and management, environmental studies, and psychology reflect a dedication to activism, social justice, community service, and sustainability. Antioch University New England is the oldest and largest of Antioch University’s graduate campuses. For more information about Antioch University New England visit our web site at: www.antiochne.edu.

About Antioch University
Antioch University, a visionary academic community composed of five campuses in four states, is uniquely capable of bringing its students' brightest ideals and highest ambitions to life. Each campus has its own distinct academic programs, community life, and regional or national identity. Antioch University is founded on principles of rigorous liberal arts education, innovative experiential learning and socially engaged citizenship. The multiple campuses of the University nurture in their students the knowledge, skills and habits of reflection to excel as lifelong learners, democratic leaders, and global citizens who live lives of meaning and purpose. For more information visit: www.antioch.edu.

Last Updated: 4/1/10