Teacher as Student

Posted on March 27, 2011 by Tim 1 Comment

While out looking for a monster size fer-de-lance, Botrops asper, Twan saw the night before, Brandon noticed this eyelash viper, Bothriechis schlegelli, on a log in the middle of the trail.

Several team members gather to watch a chestnut-mandible toucan as it flew into a tree in a clearing.

The event is bittersweet. Because in the short two weeks I have become quite fond of many of these students. They have made an impact me, likely more than I have influenced them. In a few months they will be heading off to college and embarking on a wild ride as they begin their new lives as adults. I see that they will probably not have time to reflect on this silly adventure. After all, I just hope to give them a foundation for conservation awareness. I hope that as they grow they will become mothers who take their kids camping, fathers willing to show their families the beauty of a butterfly, or frog. I hope that they in turn become teachers to their loved ones, their friends and family. I want to create an exponential teaching system and they are my first wave. Even if they don’t become scientists or activists, I hope they remember their time in the rain forests and remember that this all deserves to exist. That wild places and plants and animals and people need to coexist. And it needs to be saved.

The staff vs students soccer match quickly devolves into a chaotic game of mud soccer.

Even Wendy’s position as goalie doesn’t spare her from the annual mud bath.

 

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