Student zoo interns share their knowledge of animals and the environment with children
Story by Andrea Butler
Photos by Jason Zehner
It’s Leap Frog Day at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo and zoo education intern Sarah Clare faces her audience and announces, “Welcome to Leap Frog Day!”
Most of the children scream and cheer with elation, but one little boy, clad in a red, Spider-Man shirt, cannot contain his excitement. He escapes from his mother’s side, hopping around the room like a frog until once again he is recaptured.
This is not your average presentation by any means, but rather an interactive performance. The interns that give such demonstrations share facts about wildlife with their audience and, in addition, they encourage the children to experience the show “hands-on.” This way interns as well as children discover how to interact with each other and enjoy learning at the same time.
As visitors enter the Rainforest exhibit at the zoo, the rush of the waterfall, the dense plant life and intense humidity greets them. Filtering through the glass ceiling are brilliant rays of sunshine radiating from a blue sky. It is as if you are underwater looking up toward the surface. The Rainforest’s Jungle Lab is alive with activity: Electric eels and black ghost knife fish swim in their tanks, interns and zookeepers prepare for their presentations and parents scramble with children for a seat on the seaweed-carpeted floor.
“We’re gonna learn how to jump like the frogs do,” Sarah says, engaging the children with her every word. She squats, frog-like, on the floor in front of the children. “When they sit, they sit like this,” she says. “You guys wanna do it with me?” The children scurry to their feet, imitating her amphibian movements.
Sarah, a 21-year-old elementary education and vocal jazz performance major at Tri-C West, has been interning at the Cleveland Zoo for almost three years. Her vibrant personality and enthusiastic approach to teaching are naturally revealed when she interacts with others, especially children. As her program comes to an end, she eagerly answers any and all questions thrown at her with ease.
While she finishes fielding questions from guests, another intern, Mark Mayo, who is also a professional actor, shares his experiences. He stands tall, with a serious countenance and dryness about his speech, which comes across in a humorous way, especially when speaking about his most memorable experiences at the zoo. He simply holds out his hand and points to a large, black, bruise in the shape of beak marks. It is the work of “Bandit,” the scarlet macaw.
“He was sitting on my hand and all of a sudden, he nailed me,” Mark said. “I don’t know why. I don’t know why he did it. I have no idea. So, that was fairly interesting in a bad way.”
During the summers, Mark spends most of his time in the Australian Adventure exhibit and as a result, he frequently interacts with kangaroos and koala bears. He says he formed a friendly relationship with the kangaroos, which, unlike Bandit, never assailed him.
Mark is then called away to prepare for his next presentation of the day: a game about frog calls and how they are different from the sounds of other animals.
Between shows, Sarah talks of her love for children and nature. She plans on teaching second grade and incorporating her animal knowledge into her lessons and field trips. In her presentations, it appears that she has everything under control at all times with the animals as well as the children, so it seems that being a teacher will suit her well. But, she quickly explains that working with both children and animals is a matter of trial and error.
“Right now I’m taking educational psychology which is great because in class, the entire time, I talk about how, yes, in theory that works, but, in reality, no, it doesn’t,” she says.
Sarah’s boss, a man named Jim Nemet who is the Educational Specialist for Public Programs, passes by carrying a container of frogs. Sarah flashes a smile at the creatures, waves at them, and remarks on how cute they are.
Just behind Sarah, the infamous Bandit, with his glossy red body and rainbow- colored wings is perched on a branch inside of his glass enclosure. Bandit cocks his head to one side, curiously studying every movement around him. In contrast to a previously intimidating mention of this bird by intern Mark Mayo, Sarah says that she has never had any problems with him, other than getting him back in his cage after a show.
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