On my trip to South Africa, I was able to meet two cheetahs!

Hi, my name is Callie and I am a senior in high school. I have two main passions: animals and volleyball. I have been volunteering at the San Diego Wild Animal Park in their Conservation Corps for the past 4 years. I am also the setter on my high school and club volleyball teams; I have been playing volleyball since I was 12 years old. When I am not doing those two activities, I prefer to spend my time closer to home. I spend nights curled up on the couch watching movies, enjoying books, and hanging out with my best friend and family.

My enthusiasm for animals has sent me to South Africa where I volunteered at a cheetah preserve, to Mexico where I released endangered turtles into the Pacific Ocean and swam with dolphins, and to my own back yard where I play with my two kittens. It is with this passion that I am excited to be involved with Zoo InternQuest and become better acquainted with the inner workings of the San Diego Zoo. I will be continuing my study of animals and biology at Amherst College as a freshman this fall.

I am on the Photography Team so follow our journey through Zoo InternQuest through the Photo Blog.

Me in Aspen, CO.

Hi, my name is Caitlin and I am a senior in high school in Carmel Valley/San Diego, California. I have always been a huge animal lover! In fact, this year I started a Friends of Animals club at my high school in order to spread awareness of animal cruelty and join other teens in advocating for animal well-being.

My favorite animal is the horse, and it has always been since I began riding at the age of six. I am now 18, and I still English horseback ride in the hunter/jumper divisions. Almost all the volunteer work I’ve done has involved horses in some way because I feel most comfortable around them. I used to volunteer in a therapeutic riding program, where I helped teach kids with disabilities how to ride. It was a very rewarding experience!

I now volunteer at the Equine Hospital at Helen Woodward Center, where I work with and help take care of horses with all types of conditions and health problems. I’ve even had the opportunity to assist with emergency situations. For example, I helped perform a bone scan on a horse who had some sort of unknown lameness and just last week, I watched a veterinarian stick a long camera down a horse’s nostril to its throat to examine a lump of hay that was stuck in its digestive tract and could have caused choking. I would love to become an equine veterinarian someday, because I think the work these vets do is fascinating! Of course, I would enjoy most work that involves caring for animals, so I am looking forward to exploring my career options at Zoo InternQuest and throughout college and life.

I am representing the Conservation Team; therefore, look for my comments on conservation efforts here at the San Diego Zoo!

Hello, my name is Liz, and I adore hiking, camping, and generally spending time in nature, and I can sit for hours observing animals. I’ve always held a strong fascination towards the environment and our own human interactions within it, and ever since I was a little girl I have wanted to work for the conservation of animals. When I was around twelve years old I determined, after devouring every piece of information pertaining to any sort of animal, that I would like to become a research zoologist. I can think of nothing better than studying clouded leopards in the wilds of Nepal, or Bengal tigers in the dry back-country of India, or any of the amazing creatures that populate this earth. Along with this interest in the wild, I am also interested in genetics and culture, and how both affect wildlife and the world around us. Since this program explores every aspect of zoology, I am excited to participate and learn more about zoology, as well as discover more about the diverse wildlife present in this world.

I am on the Real World team and will be writing on how, for instance, gorilla conservation relates to the “ordinary” world.

Hi, I’m Heidi and I am currently a senior at a school in Rancho Penasquitos San Diego.

Ever since I was very little I have found myself enchanted by wildlife. My mother, the ex-park ranger, fostered this love by taking me out hiking, tide pooling, and bird watching; pointing out and describing every animal we happened upon. My idea of a good time includes going out to anywhere absent of human activity to just sit quietly and absorb all the sights, sounds, and smells of the natural world. You should try it some time. You would be amazed how peaceful it can actually be!

My repertoire of interests also includes high adventure such as camping, kayaking, rock climbing, and white-water rafting. I have experienced all of these activities thanks to Girl Scouts (in which this is my 12^th and final year), and the high adventure summer camp in Colorado I attend each year. These experiences have really opened my eyes to the fact that Mother Nature is not just extremely complex and beautiful, but also immensely powerful.

I would really love to be a field biologist or a career of that sort, because every day presents new and exciting opportunities. For my Girl Scout Gold Award, I completed a lengthy conservation project for our locally threatened cactus wren, and I imagine that a career in field biology would be much like that!

I am on the Conservation team, so throughout my blog I will be focusing on the importance and relevance of conservation in the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park.

Hello to everyone out there! My name is Sara and I’m a senior here in San Diego County. You’ll often see me transfixed in front of an animal enclosure at the San Diego Zoo or the Wild Animal Park, lost in my fantasies of growing wings or a prehensile tail.

I also love to explore wilderness areas and nature reserves, where I spend hours running, hiking, biking, climbing trees, getting lost, etc. Of course, most of my time is spent either at school, or at home, furiously scribbling down annotations and developing migraines over a batch of calculus problems. In the future, I plan to be a field biologist, studying plants, animals, fungi, or any other living organisms that I can see and touch. Because of an unending supply of curiosity, the natural world has always intrigued me. I hope to contribute to its conservation in every way possible as I dive into the mysteries that it contains.

I am on the Careers team and I look forward to sharing my insights into the exciting lives of the Zoo and Conservation Research professionals that we meet.

 My name is Eric and life as a senior in high school has really started to kick in. I’ve been looking into colleges, applying for scholarships, preparing my senior portfolio, and working almost 30 hours a week on top of it all. It doesn’t give me much time to hang out with friends, which is something that I like to do. My friends and I like to explore the canyon, go to parks and swimming pools, and laugh about all kinds of random things. I love spending time with my mom but even that is hard to do with all of the stuff that I have on my plate. In the end though, I know it’s all worth it and I’ll have plenty of time to spend with my mom and friends later.

I am representing the Real World Team.

 I’m Claire, a native of San Diego, where I live with my father and younger sister. I’m currently a junior in high school, balancing work and play, school and family. My love of nature runs deep into my childhood, delighted by lizards sunning themselves in the yard, and pill bugs that quickly curled up into balls upon touching them. I am fascinated by the natural world, and the intricate inner workings that tie it all together, the science behind the beauty. In my spare time I enjoy bird watching, drawing, painting, gardening, and delving into the microscopic microcosms of just about anything I can get my hands on with my light microscope.

I am representing the Careers Team.

 Hi, my name is Wendy. As a student of biology and an avid supporter of conservation, I am so excited to be able to expand my knowledge here at the Zoo. I can’t wait to share my experiences with anyone who reads this blog! I am 16 years old, and a junior in high school. My brother, my parents and I together make up the crazy family we are. I love to spend my free time shopping, training my dog Buddy, reading my favorite book of all time,Genetics for Dummies, and (what else?) go to the San Diego Zoo, of course! I enjoy making new friends, and am always eager to learn some new tidbit about almost anything! I work on vintage SAAB cars with my dad, and also build computers occasionally. Volunteering part time at the Helen Woodward Animal Center is one of my favorite weekend activities, and I love animals of any shape and size. I hope to become a conservation biologist someday, to do my part in protecting endangered species around the world.

I am representing the Conservation Team.

Hi everyone, my name is Stephen and I am a senior in high school. One of the main focuses of my life has always been animals. Ever since I learned to walk I have been absolutely enamored with every animal I have ever met. Nowadays I’m mostly interested in birds and mammals, particularly canines. In my house we have two dogs, a cat, two parrots and a leopard gecko. Both dogs, one of the parrots, and the gecko are my responsibility and I love them all very much. One of my favorite pastimes is taking my dogs out for long walks up one of the mountains near my house. Animals play such an important role in my life that I don’t think I’ll ever be able to live without them.
My devotion to the animal kingdom has led me to pursue the possibility of a career with animals. To assist me in this pursuit I joined the Conservation Corps at the Wild Animal Park last year and plan to continue with the program until I graduate this June. I have gained an incredible appreciation for the environment and wildlife conservation because of my involvement with the Corps. I have tremendous confidence that my experiences through the Zoo and Wild Animal Park will help point me in the right direction for the future.

I am representing the Careers Team.

 Greetings, I am Kate. I am a science and animal lover. Ever since I was little I have always been fascinated with animals and science. In science class, I am always captivated by the lessons of how the world works around us.

Just like in science class, I am always ecstatic to visit the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park. I get the feeling of learning and having fun watching animals and getting to see some natural behaviors.

When I was in seventh grade, my science teacher recommended me fora a science program known as “BE WiSE” (Better Education for Women in Science and Engineering). My first session with BE WiSE was an overnight at the CRES center (the research arm of the San Diego Zoo). It was an amazing and fun-filled evening, where a series of speakers and hands-on activities taught us about behavioral biology, conservation research, and molecular and cytogenetics. I have since attended many different sessions with the BE WiSE program and am learning all that I can about science!

I am representing the Conservation Team.