Frontiers in Ornithology Youth Symposium in Seattle, WA - Oct 4, 2025

I am on the board of directors for The Frontiers in Ornithology Association and part of the of the organizing committee for the 2025 Youth Symposium. This is the first time it will ever be held on the west coast and we hope to bring it to Canada and around the world soon. We have a great list of adult and youth speakers; including some from BC, like Indigenous birder and lawyer Jeffrey Nicholls who will speak on birding from an Indigenous perspective, environmental law and activism.

You can read the full list of speakers HERE

Our adult keynote is Steve Hampton and our youth keynotes are Lara Tseng and Song Han Ngo.

The primary mission of this event is to focus on ornithology, conservation science and related academic pursuits. The symposium does not focus on birding, bird identification techniques, or listing birds, but instead on cutting-edge technologies being used in avian research and study, careers in ornithology, and how to pursue that focus in higher education, vocationally, or avocationally. Our goal is to educate and inspire youth to take their passion for birds to a higher level. If you are a student inspired by this please join us in 2025 for keynotes, speakers, and networking opportunities.

The event is open to students aged 13-22 and there are student scholarships for those students who can't afford the rate of 40$ (which will soon be posted on the website).

The event runs from 9 am until 4 pm at the Mountaineers Seattle Program Centre and all information can be found here. Please sign up for updates. Thanks to Washington Ornithological Society for donating 5000$ and Birds Connect Seattle for supporting this event by donating monetarily, for volunteers, leading walks and boots on the ground and partnering with us. Thank you to all the wonderful donors who help to make this event happen and to the fantastic speakers who have agreed to speak at the symposium!

If you want to donate to this important cause you can do so online via this link

Tickets will be available from April 1st and I will post a link when they go on sale, as there will be some early bird discounts. Parents must accompany underage students.

This will be a truly inspiring event and I am excited for it and hope to see many BC Young Birders, both current and past graduates attend this event!