Archive for February 2011

Feb
25

Introducing… Paul Bishop

Posted by in Education Office,Volunteer Programs

To continue our series introducing the EduTeer Staff, we’ll head over to the Volunteer section…

Name: Paul Bishop

Title: Volunteer Programs Supervisor

Paul getting a smooch from one of our sea lions, Cali.

Job Description: I provide supervision to all of our volunteer programs and the coordinators that run them. I directly supervise the docent program.

Hometown: Marshall, TX

Favorite animal and why?  My overall favorite animal is the gorilla, but my favorite here at the Houston Zoo is the white rhino. I just find them extremely interesting and their plight in the wild is an issue that needs more attention.

Favorite class to teach at HZI: I enjoy coordinating our docent training sessions. I probably learn as much as they do.

How long have you worked at the Houston Zoo? About 8 months.

Describe your education and experience prior to working at the Houston Zoo: I have over 11 years of coaching experience on both the collegiate and high school level. I also have over 6 years of experience in personnel training.

What do you enjoy most about working in the EduTeer Department? Everyone here comes to work with a great attitude and is genuinely happy to be here. I also like that you can learn something new here everyday.

What animals do you have at home? My wife and I have a cat named Bam. (But I wish we had a dog!)

Tell us a fun fact about yourself: While coaching the cheerleaders at the University of Oklahoma, I also coached Carl Albert High School to 4 straight State Championships and one Grand National Championship.

Keep checking back to find out more about the unique staff here in the EduTeer family!

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Feb
18

Introducing…Chance Sanford!

Posted by in Education Office,Volunteer Programs

As Leigh mentioned previously, we will be doing a blog series about the staff that makes up the Education and Volunteer departments-aka the EduTeer Staff. We decided to make it easy on everyone and start from the top and work our way down the EduTeer family tree. Today’s blog features our head honcho…read on to find out more!

Name: Chance Sanford

Title: Director of Education

Job Description: I feel my role in the department is to place individuals in positions and give them responsibilities in which they will be successful, as well as provide them the resources, training, and knowledge for them to be successful in those roles. Beyond that I oversee the operations of volunteer programs, education programs, and the contact center.

Hometown: Pasadena, TX

Chance enjoying some time with our meerkat mob

Favorite animal and why? Rockhopper Penguin. I have had the fortune of working around a variety of penguin species in my career, and some of the most inquisitive and playful chicks are rockhoppers. It’s tough not to like an animal that you can have hang out in your lap.

Favorite class to teach at HZI: I haven’t had the opportunity to teach many classes, but I really enjoy Camp Zoofari.

How long have you worked at the Houston Zoo? 9 months

Describe your education and experience prior to working at the Houston Zoo: B.S. in Marine Biology from Texas A&M University at Galveston; M.Ed. in Curriculum & Instruction from Concordia University. Prior to the Zoo I worked as an animal care specialist for a year at Rainforest Cafe, and worked 7 years in the Education Department at SeaWorld San Antonio over the camp programs (1 year as an Education Supervisor, 6 years as an Education Manager).

What do you enjoy most about working in the EduTeer Department? I enjoy working with such passionate people. Everyone in the department is passionate about something, be it education, interpretation, conservation or something else. I love coming to work everyday knowing that whatever it is that we want to accomplish, we can do it together, and our passion for it will drive our enthusiasm toward the goal.

What animals do you have at home? Dixie – Redbone Coonhound & Daisie – Black Lab mix

Tell us a fun fact about yourself: When I was in college I rowed a marathon.

Keep checking back to find out more about the unique staff here in the EduTeer family.

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Feb
14

Introducing… The Staff!

Posted by in Education Office

With our blog series so far, Martha showed you our in-house animal collection and I’ve taken you on a tour of the BEC.  Now we’re teaming up to introduce you to the wonderful people who work in this building: our full-time Education and Volunteer staff!

To give you an idea of how our two departments are related and the connections between all the folks who work here, Martha created this lovely “family tree.” 

Education and Volunteers work in the same building and often together, but we have two different roles.  The Volunteer staff are responsible for coordinating all of the volunteers that contribute time to the Zoo.  This is a big job; between our Keeper Aides, Docents, adult vounteers, Zoo Crew teens, and corporate groups, we have a lot of volunteers at the Zoo!  Education staff coordinate, write, and teach all of the educational programs we offer at the Zoo.  There are a wide variety of these programs, as well.  Taken together, we like to refer to ourselves as the EduTeer team. 

We’ve been peppering all of the people in our building with questions to get some insight into who they are and what they do here at the Zoo.  They’ve given us interesting and fun answers, and we hope you’ll enjoy “meeting” them through this series!  Keep your eyes out the next time you take a program through our Education Department; you might just meet one (or more) of us in person!

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Feb
11

Teen Career Conference!

Posted by in Featured,Public Programs

Learn more about zoo careers at our Teen Career Conference!

One of the things about the Zoo that intrigues people are the people that work here.  That may sound odd, but consider this.  Keeper Camp is the summer Camp Zoofari topic that sells out the fastest.  Zoo Careers is our most popular home school series.  We get lots of requests for career day speakers and many letters asking us about working at the Zoo. 

It’s understandable that people are interested in careers at the Zoo.  There are many people who want to work with animals, and most people don’t know a zookeeper or other Zoo staff person to ask.  On February 27th we are offering an awesome opportunity for teens to explore this exact topic!

Our first annual Teen Career Conference is from 1pm – 4pm on Feb. 27th!  We have a lot of exciting things planned.  Five of our animal department staff are scheduled to present about their careers and how they got into them.  These speakers include two keepers, a supervisor, a curator, and a veterinarian.

Zoo Crew is a great option for teens who want to volunteer at the Houston Zoo. Learn more at our Teen Career Conference!

We’ll also have conservation organizations from around Houston as exhibitors, to share information about careers and volunteer opportunities.  Local universities will be here as well, to discuss their programs and application processes.  Our Volunteer Programs Coordinators will be presenting about our Internships and Zoo Crew programs for teens here at the Zoo.  There will also be some folks here to help with resumes and applications! 

If you know a teen who’s interested in pursuing a career in an animal-related field, encourage them to attend our Teen Career Conference!  More information and registration is available online.

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Feb
08

Photo Class

Posted by in Classes/Programs,Featured

One of the photos I use during class - a giant waxy monkey tree frog from our Reptile House.

Saturday is the first Point, Click, Zoo class of the year.  This is our beginner-level, adult photography class.  It is definitely my favorite class to teach, as I mentioned in an earlier post, and I am really looking forward to it.

I learned to take photos with a completely manual film SLR camera.  I refused to go digital until a digital camera could do everything that my manual camera could do.  In 2006 I was given a digital SLR, capable of being used like a manual, and I’ve been using digital ever since. 

There are many people who didn’t transition to their DSLRs from manual ones; instead they started with a point and shoot and moved up to a nicer camera as they got further into photography.  Point, Click, Zoo is designed with these people in mind. 

The class starts with the basics of using the manual controls on your camera.  The more control you take of the settings on your camera, the more control you have of the image.  We also look at how to resolve some of the typical problems associated with Zoo photography: glare from glass, mesh in the way of the shot, animals not cooperating with your intended image, and so on.  There’s also some practice time included at the end in the form of a guided tour. 

This is a very popular class, but we do still have some spots available.  If you’re interested, check out the web page for more information and to register!

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Feb
03

MD Anderson Kids Provide Hearts O’ Fun!

Posted by in Events,Fun on grounds

At the end of January of this year we had several children from MD Anderson Cancer Center visit the Houston Zoo. They brought along family members and some of their care staff to provide enrichment for our white rhinos and chimpanzees.

What is enrichment again? Oh yeah, it’s that fun stuff you give to your animals…

Well, yes. On a more technical note it is anything that keepers provide to their animals to promote natural behaviors they would exhibit in the wild. This not only keeps them physically active, but mentally and emotionally stimulated as well.

The kids from MD Anderson were gracious enough to make HUGE hearts for our rhinos and chimps that the keepers happily stuffed with goodies. For our chimpanzees the hearts were stuffed with fruit and the rhinos had alfalfa in theirs.

At the chimp exhibit the kids watched on as their nicely decorated hearts were thrown over the edge for the chimps to explore. At first our troop of chimps were confused…they didn’t know what this foreign object was and they were unsure as to who would dive in first. Not too long after the chimps had discovered there were tasty treats inside the hearts were ripped open! Willie, our youngest chimp, proceeded to tear the enrichment into pieces even after all of the fruit had been removed.

As for our rhinos, the heart was stuck in their pile of alfalfa, and then they were let out into their yard. They weren’t extremely interested at first but Annie, one of our female rhinos, discovered the heart was stuffed with alfalfa! She proceeded to get her horn stuck inside the heart as she looked for food (I think that may be a sign of shear delight). Not to worry, she quickly got her horn removed and proceeded to chow down on her newly discovered meal.

Our rhinos exploring the heart!

After all was said and done, not only were our animals happy, but the kids enjoyed themselves as well. It’s not every day that children get to make enrichment for a wild animal and observe them exploring it. It’s even more important to have these opportunities for kids who spend a lot of their day inside hospital walls!

Outside of this enrichment opportunity, the Education Department also devotes one week in the fall called “Zoo Week” to the kids at MD Anderson. Staff will go over every day throughout the week to share information about our animals, show biofacts to the kids and create art projects with them.

This partnership is a fulfilling one to say the least, and we hope to maintain it for years to come.

One of our rhinos getting its horn stuck inside the enrichment!

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