Selena EOY 2011: Shifting Plans but Still Focused on Wildlife

Selena and Bald Eagle

This past year has been full of surprises for me. 2011 was the end of my Senior year. I want to be a wildlife care taker and in order to go to that route; I needed to take advanced science and math classes. I took Advanced Placement Statistics (ended the year with 98), Advanced Calculus (ended with 95), and Advanced Biology (ended with 94). I was happy with the results. I graduated on June 5, 2011, a very proud day for myself. Finally leaving Shepherd Hill Regional HS and planning to move on to Unity College in the fall.

I was introduced to Unity College during my junior year by a brochure. It is a college all about the environment. The major I want to pursue is Captive Wildlife Care and Education. This means that I will learn how to take care of every animal you can think of, mostly focusing on mammals and reptiles. My dream is to work with big cats… especially tigers. I want to specialize in the Felidae and Canidae families. Working with big cats and wild dogs, such as wolves and foxes, is going to be my future and I am very excited!

About a week after I graduated, I moved in with the Avalon’s. Not something that I had planned, but it was for the better. Initially it was hard to adjust only because I did not have a lot of personal items with me. Other than that, I have not had any problems with moving away from home. When I miss my family, I can go home and see them, which is great. I have fun living with the Avalons and feel excited to live here for another 6 months.

At the beginning of August I got a phone call from my mom. She told me that I was not going to college because there wasn’t enough money. My parents had to do the paperwork for loans and financial aid because I did not turn 18 until September. I was upset that I could not go straight into my next educational experience. I had to delay entrance to college and wait until I was 18 to start filling out grants. Even now I am still working on it, but I am determined to go to school Fall of 2012. Wish me luck!

In June and start of August, I was volunteering with a cat shelter and a foster mom (to kittens of course). Although I had fun, I knew I could not do it for one year. No matter how bad I want a paying job or how often I apply, I am still unemployed. I wanted to do something with my life during this year off from school. I am someone who cannot sit around doing nothing for more than 3 days. So I went online and looked for places I would be okay to work at for some money. Then I looked up some old zoos I remembered going to when I was a kid. However, most are in other states, and the ones in MA are an hour away. There is one place that I remember going to as a kid that is only 20 minutes away. I looked up EcoTarium and next thing I know, I’m playing with porcupines and opossums!

I e-mailed for a naturalist program, but I was about to be 18. Jen told me to fill out a form for an actual volunteer position. Okay! In a matter of minutes I printed it out, filled it, scanned it, and sent it to the EcoTarium. A woman named Betsy M. got a hold of me. We set up a date and time. Then, Jen sent an e-mail and our date and time was confirmed. Early that August day, I got an e-mail. It was Betsy cancelling on me! But I was supposed to be with Jen, not Betsy?! What to do? Well, I told Jonathan and he said that we should go. No harm in it, if there is no interview, we would just walk around and get out of the house a bit. So we were off! I got there, told the gate I was going for an interview, told the front desk and waited. Jen was held up, but only for 5 minutes! A nice older woman came up. She introduced herself as Kathy. Okay, and Jen? I followed Kathy downstairs to the bottom floor and went behind the scenes. As soon as we sat down another woman came in and it was Jen. They talked about my application, seeing that I wanted to be a WILDLIFE vet, not just any vet. I was so nervous, I was having issues talking, repeating myself over and over, but they were excited to have me. I then, out of my mouthing everything, mentioned the Betsy e-mail. It turns out, she is the head of the EcoTarium! She saw my application and wanted to see me herself! I felt special. And away we went, showing me where I was going to be working next week.

I am glad to have taken a chance to do something new. I love being at the EcoTarium! I work with such a fabulous crowd, both in Wildlife department and everything else. The animals I work with are so much fun! Some highlights of my work so far… I held a bald eagle in my arms and got to carry it for a long time without gloves, I play with a fox as though he is a dog, I am a personal trainer to an opossum. I am one of the very few volunteers that is given a radio and just allowed to run with taking care of the animals by myself. In December, Betsy (leader of the EcoTarium) patted me on the back and told me how impressed she was with the volunteer hours I have done. So, when I got home, I calculated my hours. Between late August and end of the year I did 445 hours! 3 days a week, each day 9 hours. Could not believe it myself! I still hope they will offer me a paid position but I love going to work with the animals even as a volunteer.

I am looking forward to 2012, doing a lot of volunteer hours with amazing people, start of my college years, and being the Avalons. I am excited for my future and looking forward to the new year!

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