Impact is a Two-Way Street

If you peeked into a classroom at the Greenville Zoo one morning in July, you would have seen me introducing a class of 9-year-olds to a chinchilla named Kenickie. And in the back of that room, as I told them all about him, sat a little girl falling in love with animals; I could tell from the way her eyes lit up as she watched and listened, and from the way her face got far too serious for its age when I told them that chinchillas were endangered. She raised her hand and asked, “How do I help?”

As a conservation education intern at the Greenville Zoo, my job consisted of many things: executing conservation projects, leading summer camps, handling and presenting animals, and many other tasks that get bestowed upon interns. But it was thatJuly morning with that little girl that made me realize just how much educating and inspiring others means to me. These in-person moments where you can see the impact are incredibly special but are not the only place where education has that impact.

One of the conservation projects I worked on was auditing the zoo’s website and lnstagram for conservation messaging. Upon navigating these platforms as a user, I realized I didn’t learn much about the zoo’s conservation initiatives. I wanted people of all ages, whether they could come to the zoo in person or not, to have access to inspiring education. This led me to design a series of lnstagram posts featuring the SAFE species supported at the zoo, SAFE being a program dedicated to Saving Animals From Extinction run by the Association of Zoos &Aquariums. This is a program I got to know quite well during my internship, but I came to realize that this knowledge was not universal among zoo staff. SAFE was just one of the conservation initiatives at the zoo that I discovered not all staff fully understand.

Another project I was tasked with was designing a survey to gauge staff opinions on the zoo’s conservation efforts, which I saw as a perfect

education opportunity. Not only did the survey collect data on how the staff felt conservation was being done at the zoo, but it also informed them of what each of the conservation initiatives is and how they run. Upon creating this survey, I learned things too. This is one

of the things I love most about educating others: while I’m working, I’m continually inspired. Most of my drive comes from a different place though: the excitement on a kid’s face as I tell them things about the world they live in, things they never knew. I remember being that kid, asking “how do I help?” and now here I am, having learned so much from an internship I almost didn’t apply to because I thought it was just a childish dream.

This experience exposed me to so much more than a career field I’m passionate about. It taught me that you will always learn something when you follow where your passions lead. And that you never know the impact you could have on others, so in a world where you have knowledge, share it.

About the author: Emily Bernier is a Class of 2028 Communications and Biology double major. She chose this Shi Institute fellowship to combine her loves of graphic design, education, and animals. Her favorite animal is a meerkat, and she hopes to one day work with them and many other animals at an A2A-accredited organization! In her free time, you can find her blasting Broadway music in her kitchen, baking up something delicious!