Victory Arch March Awaits BVU Biology Major
Brittany Tillman took full advantage of the experiential learning opportunities at BVU. Focusing on biology she was able to travel to locations across the U.S. for internships, research, and service.
When Brittany Tillman returned to the Buena Vista University campus in May to retrieve belongings from her suite, she had to stop her boyfriend from walking her beneath the Victory Arch.
It’s a time-honored tradition involving BVU students. They pass through the Victory Arch just twice during their time on campus: once, on their first day as freshman; and for the second time, on their graduation day.
“He thought I was crazy for a second,” Tillman says while explaining her reaction. “You don’t walk through the Arch, except for those two times.”
“I want to get my master’s in conservational biology, or a similar field.”
Brittany Tillman
Another BVU tradition Tillman observed involved experiential learning opportunities. The biology major spent last summer conducting animal population surveys and a genetic analysis at Indiana Dunes National Park near Chesterton, Ind. She also worked at Potter Park Zoo in Lansing, Mich.
As a senior, Tillman completed an environmental education internship at DeVries Nature Center in Owosso, Mich., coordinating nature hikes, sharing stories, and more. She developed curriculum for the center covering a vernal pool restoration, using knowledge gleaned from work at Indian Dunes.
Tillman, a three-year member of the BVU women’s soccer team, also served two years as vice president for BVU’s Alternative Week of Off-site Learning (AWOL). As a member of the group, she spent one spring break serving in animal advocacy and environmentalism in North Carolina. She did the same the following year on Catalina Island off the coast of California.
This former BV Buddies mentor volunteer is now broadening her botany knowledge while working at a greenhouse. She hopes to either land a full-time position in wildlife biology with either the Department of Natural Resources or the U.S. Forest Service. If neither were to pan out this year, Tillman will enter graduate school in 2021.
“I want to get my master’s in conservational biology, or a similar field,” she says.
Until then, she’s working and eyeing a possible return to campus in October for a BVU Commencement ceremony, joined by her identical twin sister, Abbie Tillman, who earned a bachelor’s in pre-art therapy.
At that time, Brittany Tillman stresses, a walk through the Victory Arch wouldn’t simply be savored, it would be expected.