After graduating, West Branch students can accomplish any passion or goal they have for the future. Like many other graduates, April Sperfslage, a graduate from 2010, fulfilled her life-long dreams of pursuing a career in wildlife biology. Due to Sperfslage’s early childhood curiosities of animals and nature in general, she knew that she wanted to pursue an occupation that involves wildlife and nature. Sperfslage says that she grew up watching Steve Irwin’s The Crocodile Hunter and found the show fascinating due to her curiosity in animals and life.
After graduating from West Branch, Sperfslage attended Penn State University to study Wildlife and Fisheries Science and eventually received an Associates and Bachelor’s degree in that major. During college, Sperfslage was involved in a three-month program to a School for Field Studies Program in Tanzania. On this international trip to Africa, Sperfslage was taught environmental issues, wildlife conservation, community resource management and many other things involving the African environment. During the program, Sperfslage would teach young children English in the local classrooms in her free time.
Now, Sperfslage is employed as a contractor with Colorado State University where she monitors wildlife populations in Louisiana on a military base. Sperfslage says that she enjoys being a wildlife biologist because “there are numerous opportunities in this field to travel and take short term positions in different parts of the country,” and that it allows her to learn something new every day.
For Sperfslage’s future in wildlife biology, she wants to pursue a master’s degree in this specialty and hopefully find a job in either the western or northern United States or another country. She says that her dream job eventually would be to work with and study polar bears in Canada or Alaska. Overall, Sperfslage hopes to reduce human impact on the environment and animal populations across the globe.
