It feels like Mike has been around forever, but he only started volunteering with us last May. Mike helps us out mostly in the Farmyard. It’s no wonder he likes being in the Farmyard so much- for the past 20 years he’s lived on a farm in Durham with a bunch of horses and dogs (as well as some parakeets, a tarantula, and a human). He takes Max and Lightning for walks. He is also mainly responsible for keeping Lightning’sRead more
Posts tagged: #spotlight
Spotlight: Leiana Leon Guerrero
Leiana is the Museum’s Director of Family and School Experiences and has her Master’s degree in Science Education. I worked closely with Leiana in the spring when I trained her and other Museum staff to handle and use our red tailed hawk for programs. Leiana has been at the Museum for almost 7 years, and has been doing all sorts of programs the entire time. She does whatever is necessary, and she’ll do it with a smile on her face.Read more
Spotlight: Volunteer Judi
We have so many volunteers helping us, but none have been here longer than Judi. Judi started volunteering back in 1993, at least that’s when I think she started! Judi has an incredible eye for detail: it’s one of the things that makes her a great animal caregiver. In the photo she is preparing food for our owls, which includes adding their Cosequin dose (yup, owls can take Glucosamine and Chondroitin supplements too!) Most of the time Judi helps withRead more
Spotlight: Erin Brown
Erin is the Museum’s only animal keeper assistant. She spends most of her time taking care of the animals in Carolina Wildlife as well as the animals used for education programs. You’ll rarely get a chance to see her because she’s hard at work behind-the-scenes, or if you do see her she is behind glass in one of the exhibits cleaning. On Thursday mornings, however, you might actually get a chance to see her not behind glass as she helpsRead more
Spotlight: Cassidy Walpole
A few weeks ago Kristen wrote a post about our new keeper, Cassidy. I first met Cassidy about 13 years ago when she started volunteering in the animal department. She was a great “youth partner”. So great, that in 1998 she was the Durham Volunteer Center’s Youth Volunteer of the Year and won the Governor’s Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service that same year. She went off to college, and my interaction with Cassidy was limited to providing references for her,Read more
Spotlight: Kent Carter
Kent has been working as an Animal Keeper at the Museum for almost 12 years. I remember when I hired him he said I asked him the best interview questions ever. Kent is one of the animal department’s Senior Animal Keepers. His focus is on special projects. This includes things like working with groups of kids from schools on projects, mowing the bear yard, venomous snake work, and much more. Kent is the keeper who does most of the potentiallyRead more