Guest blogger – Emily Gross, Zoo Academy student:
I have often been told that finding a job doing something you love is very difficult, especially in this economy. However, I refuse to spend my life not pursuing something I love. For this reason I chose to combine my two passions: animals and writing. This combination led to the idea of creating a Zoo Academy Newspaper.
Overall, the original goal was to simply have a senior capstone project. However, the school newspaper has somewhat turned in to my baby. I really enjoy finding interesting topics to write about for the students, and I love the idea of staying connected with former Zoo Academy students.
We, as students, often forget that a lot of people around the Zoo were once just students themselves. They have great stories to tell, and a lot of information to share. This is what gave me the idea for my Zoo Academy Then and Now piece. Although I didn’t get too many written replies from the busy keepers, I got to hear a lot of funny stories that I probably would have never heard before.
That is what I like most about this project, it forces me to delve deeply into some areas of the Zoo that I never would have paid any attention to before.
My first piece was a small newsletter, which was basically just an introduction done on Adobe InDesign. My second piece was actually the first edition of The ZA Today, the small school newspaper. This first edition featured stories written by Thane Maynard, students, one of my teachers, and myself. This came with a lot of help from various keepers around the Zoo as well.
I am now working on the second and “my” final edition of The ZA Today. I am hoping that one of the juniors from this year will take the challenge and continue my project in to next year. As for me, I am hoping to continue writing in college as well as pursuing field biology.
Read the ZA Today newsletter here. I hope you enjoy it!