G. Roy Horst Award

Patricia Morton
2014

Pat Morton first hosted the Teacher’s Bat Workshop in 1995 at the annual meeting in Boston, MA. Since then, it has been offered almost every year. Pat’s commitment to the teacher’s workshop is especially impressive given that the nature of her job with Texas Parks and Wildlife means little money is available for travel support, so she generally comes to the meeting to host the workshop relying primarily on her personal funds. Each year, Pat has put incredible effort into networking with the local Board of Education at the site of the meeting to identify teachers that would benefit from participation in the workshop. This can be an onerous and involved task, given that such coordination is often done at a distance and can include dealing with substantial levels of bureaucracy! The presentations that Pat has made year after year at the teacher’s workshop have always been incredibly well organized and clearly involved great efforts of preparation. Further, these presentations have always been enthusiastically received by the teachers in attendance. Finally, Pat has always been able to recruit excellent speakers to provide short presentations during the teachers’ workshop, even if gentle persistence and persuasion was needed.

When looking back over the 45 years that I have been involved with NASBR, there is no one who has made a greater contribution of time, effort, or dedication to equal Pat’s effort. When we began thinking about making some recognition of Pat, our efforts coalesced into a formal award. No one was as pleased as I am that she was our first honoree and I am proud that I was one of those who nominated her. I was extremely pleased when I was asked to make the presentation and was greatly taken aback to find that the award was named in my honor. I was doubly pleased that Pat was the first to receive it. We can hardly do better next time! - G. Roy Horst