My Wild Summer

By: Samantha Johnson
Sugar Grove, IL
Animal Sciences, major
Community Outreach Education, minor

When you think about working with wildlife, education probably isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. Most people think wildlife rehabilitation or zoos. I tried both of those things but neither of them felt quite right. I decided to try out the education side of things with an internship at Ohio Wildlife Center. It was everything I could have hoped for.

Sam Johnson, photo 1

I spent my summer teaching different groups of people, adults and children alike, all about wildlife, the mission of the center, and the animal ambassadors we had there. I also had the chance to work with kids during on site day camps. Just being able to see their interest in wildlife and help them learn more about it brought such a joy to me. I was so happy spending my days there. I came to know the staff and the resident animals very well and miss them dearly. The season is over now but you can bet I’ll be going back to volunteer. I may have chosen a career with few job opportunities but when you find something you’re this passionate about, you just have to go with it.

Samantha wrote this blog post as an in class assignment for the agricultural communication 2367 writing course. All opinions are her own.

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