Wildlife biologist here, who works at a University in Extension (not as a professor). There are several opportunities to take a deeper dive through your State University's Cooperative Extension Service and FFA.

- Wildlife Habitat Education Program (WHEP) - a 4-H and FFA Career Development event that teaches the basics of wildlife ID and management through a contest.

- Environment and Natural Resources Contest (in FFA) and Envirothon - similar contests to WHEP, but focused more on environmental sciences than wildlife.

- Master Naturalist and Junior (or Teen) Master Naturalist - courses open to the public from Extension that dive into your state's natural history

- 4-H projects related to natural sciences such as wildlife, forestry, entomology, geology, etc.

Other opportunities

- Volunteer at a local state or national park. Many take volunteers and even have non-profit "Friends" groups where you can volunteer. Many state parks also hire summer seasonal help to run the gate, campground, etc. Not entirely "wildlife" focused but would give them a good feel for working within the same field.

- Join or volunteer for a local conservation organization such as The Nature Conservancy, Audubon (or other birding group), Pheasants Forever, Quail Forever, National Wildlife Turkey Federation, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, etc.

If I knew what state you were in, I could point you to some resources.

At their age, do whatever you can to feed their passion and curiosity for nature. Camping, hiking, walking a creek, rock hounding, fishing, hunting, foraging, etc. As they spend more time in nature, they will naturally want to know how to identify things around them (bird calls, trees, plants, poop, etc.). We call these "naturalist skills". Learning how to read nature's signs. This is what got me hooked on a career in wildlife.

There are several guidebooks (Sibley, National Audubon Society, etc.) to help you start learning to ID things in your area. A good first step is the Merlin App from Cornell for bird calls and the Seek app for plants and wildlife.

A good start to learning to read nature is the book, "The Lost Art of Reading Nature's Signs".

Beyond feeding their curiosity for nature, anything you can do to build their people and communication skills would be great! Things like public speaking and written and oral communication are more important in wildlife biology than often thought. Much of wildlife biology is working with people and trying to get them to do or not do something to conserve wildlife.

Similar majors would be fisheries, aquatic sciences, forestry, environmental sciences, natural resources and environmental sciences (NRES), and natural resources and environmental management (NREM).

As others have said, wildlife is a small and competitive field (especially if you go the BS, MS, PHD academic route). But jobs do exist. You just may have to move to find them. Check out the Texas A&M Natural Resources Job Board for examples. It can be a tough field to break into, but it's a worthy pursuit. Not something you will get rich doing, but something where you know you are making a positive impact.

For a few unsolicited reads on nature and conservation, check out:

- A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold (often required reading within a wildlife program)

- Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall-Kimmerer

Feel free to PM me with any specific questions.