Category — Education

The last six months have been full of excitement and new opportunities while serving as the Public Relations & Marketing Intern at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden.  As the Zoo hosted events, set records and welcomed adorable new animals, I was there to help the team!

Interning for the Zoo has offered me unique experiences and allowed me to learn so much about my field of interest. While working in the PR & Marketing office, I gained valuable, real-world experience in writing news releases, media alerts and having hands-on experiences with contacting local, regional and national media outlets.  I was also able to assist in managing the Zoo’s multiple social media accounts. (Those 5,000 baby giraffe names posted on Facebook didn’t sort themselves!) Another perk was that my internship did not always have me at a desk. When media personnel came to cover stories at the zoo, I was often invited to join on the behind-the-scene interviews. This led to several up-close animal encounters.  And, allowed me to have some very special experiences of my own.  Within my very first week, I was able to handle some of the baby pancake tortoises and my interactions with animals didn’t stop there!  In the time I have been at the zoo, I have been up-close with elephants, cougars, sea lions, baby flamingos, and a baby penguin.  In addition, I had office visits from Savanna, the cheetah cub!  From week to week, I never knew who or what I would get to interact with.

Looking back on my experience, I was extremely fortunate to have been chosen for this internship.  Not only was I able to improve my skills under a PR professional, but I was given insight into what I want to pursue after college.  My time at the Zoo has been a positive experience and one that I will always remember.

Each summer camp season we challenge our campers to collect and recycle more cell phones than any other Zoo camper to get kids active in our Eco-cell program and build awareness about how our efforts can really make a difference in global conservation.  This year we had three young ladies–Cece, Lucy, and Avery– collect over 100 phones for our program.  Their efforts were rewarded a couple of weeks ago when they came to the Zoo for a special treat. They met Zoo Director Thane Maynard and interacted with Primate Team Leader Ron Evans and one of the gorilla groups. They took home a super-sized plush gorilla as a reminder of their contribution to gorilla conservation.

The girls meet Thane and their new plush friend.

How does recycling cell phones help save gorillas? Cell phones contain an ore called Coltan, which is mined in endangered gorilla habitat in Africa. Reducing the demand for Coltan lessens the negative impact the mining industry has on gorillas and their habitat. The Zoo’s Saving Species program recycled more than 19,000 cell phones through Eco-cell thanks to efforts of people like Cece, Lucy, and Avery. Got an old cell phone sitting in a drawer at your home? We’ll take it!

Guest blogger: Jaelynn Wright, Zoo Academy Senior

Hi, my name is Jaelynn Wright and I’m a student it the Zoo Academy.

My time in the Zoo is really awesome and I just love it. Every day I am ready for a new day in my lab.  Since I am a senior, it’s much different from being a junior. I remember when I started the Zoo Academy one day and it was my last day working in with the cheetahs. Well, me and my classmate were cleaning the cages and the keepers came in and told us that some kids were here on a field trip and that they were putting on a show for them, so we were allowed to watch the show. Now I’ve really never been up close and personal to a cheetah, so I was all happy outside and scared inside. The keepers let Tommy (one of the cheetahs) into the yard and he ran like he had never been outside. Afterwards, he came up and sat right next to me. I even touched his head and I couldn’t help but grin like a little kid on their birthday.

Cheetahs have personality, too!

Now I’m in the Education lab in the afternoon. I get to socialize with animals, give my advice in the meetings and just have fun. I meet new people. The latest animals I have socialized with were the opossums and the baby screaming hairy armadillos. They’re so small and so cute, and the way they moved in my arms was really cute. I have to pay really close attention to their behavior because we want them to feel safe around people they don’t know. They really like me and they have grown to trust me to take them to people who won’t hurt them.

Here I am with a Brazilian opposum.

I’m so glad I get to be a student at the Zoo Academy!