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BAM! KAPOW! Ecology-minded alumni flies high

June 13, 2019

By day, he is Darrien Savage, JCCC alum and wildlife biologist for Stantec, a worldwide environmental consulting company. But at night, he becomes a silent protector and watchful guardian of bat habitats. He is … “the batman!”

Savage graduated from JCCC with both an AA in Liberal Arts and an AS in General Science in 2016 – BAM!

He followed his counselor’s advice and used a transfer guide – SMART.

Every one of his credits transferred to his dream degree in Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology at Kansas State University – YES!

After earning a bachelor’s degree in 2018, he was immediately hired (HOLY SMOKES!) by Stantec to detect and monitor wild bat populations, including the federally endangered gray bat, and their flight patterns.

“One of the main things I like about this campus is it has prairie, forested areas and ponds. Students can take a walk and view wildlife without going far to see it. There’s so much beauty in nature here.”

Savage consults with Stantec clients who are planning to build wind farms. His job is to install acoustic bat detectors that gauge the presence or absence of bat populations and to make sure the wind turbines will not wipe out local bat populations, including several threatened and endangered bat species. With acoustic bat surveys taking place across the Great Plains region, he has to be ready to travel at a moment’s notice and set up shop outdoors. SWOOSH!

The POWer of professors

Savage contributes his success to his excellent environmental science and organismic biology professors and to the enterprising spirit of JCCC’s Center for Sustainability. He was a week away from going to K-State when he realized the difference in tuition for the same courses at JCCC. He unpacked and had no regrets. SNAP!

“I decided I could keep loan costs down and take leaps to explore different careers without spending a lot,” he said. “I feel like I got as much of a university experience here. I was able to apply a lot of what I learned from my JCCC professors to my classes at K-State.”

His paid internship position with the Center for Sustainability even allowed him to bank some money and gain enough experience to land his first wildlife job — at K-State’s Boyle Lab working with grassland songbirds. BOOM!

What lurks in the darkness (and daylight)?

“I decided I could keep loan costs down and take leaps to explore different careers without spending a lot.”

It doesn’t take X-ray vision to spot wildlife. Have you ever spotted a coyote, skunk, deer or red-tailed hawk on campus? Savage has. In 2016, he sought funding for and spearheaded the first campus BioBlitz, an event that focuses on finding and identifying as many species as possible in a specific area over a short period of time.

Savage and other members of JCCC’s Student Sustainability Committee got a clear snapshot of animal biodiversity in the populated and outlying areas of JCCC. The BioBlitz also influenced JCCC’s Bird Window Collision Study.

“One of the main things I like about this campus is it has prairie, forested areas and a pond,” Savage said. “Students can take a walk and view wildlife without going far to see it. There’s so much beauty in nature here.”

Environmental Studies in your future?

Want to explore career options that will put you to work in the great outdoors? Visit our Career Development Center.

Follow Darrien Savage on Instagram: @savagebiologist.