The student naturalist group at West has been doing many community outreach projects this year. These projects include events like having animal talks in the commons and going to Clearwater Creek Elementary School for second graders to do activities with the kids about earth day and the environment.

One of the biggest events of the year for student naturalist is the animal talks in the commons. During this event, students invite different elementary schools to come and learn about unique animals.

“A lot of people don’t know all of the animals we have in the back because when you first look in here you don’t see any other animals other than the turtles and taxidermy animals,” student naturalist teacher Darcie Badger said. “I think it’s important that people understand that you guys work really hard to take care of a lot of different animals and then learn about it and educate and learn more about the environment.”

The student naturalist classes work every day with animals and prepare for each event they attend. Students typically enjoy working with the animals and talking to the kids. 

“The kids are great, they listen really well and they really love the animals as much as the people in the class do,” junior Britney Allison said. 

On Friday, the student nat. group will take a select number of students to go and teach kids about earth day. Students look forward to this event because it means they can tell kids all about the cool animals at West.

“I really love it. It’s really good if you want to interact with animals and not sit at a desk doing work all day. It’s very hands-on work,” Allison said. 

Student naturalist does not get recognized as easily as other classes like biology or chemistry.  Eighth graders signing up for high school classes, or even freshman, might not  know what student nat. is all about. Having knowledge about the environment you’re surrounded in, however, is beneficial for the future. 

“I think it’s easy to get caught up in what you’re doing and not think about the bigger picture and it’s important that we think about the environment and protecting it and the animals so that they’re here for future generations,” Badger said.