Julie the Rock Star

Last Friday Julie was invited to provide a presentation at Bayshore Christian Ministries.  BCM serves underprivileged East Palo Alto youths in a variety of ways including a Summer program.  One aspect of this program is to have guest speakers expose the children to a wide variety of vocational opportunities.  Julie was asked to come in and talk about life as an Animal Technician.

I can tell you that she was a bit intimidated as she prepared;  although I wasn't worried in the least.  I mean, kids and animals?  Come on.  No sweat.  Her angst was driven in part by knowing she would be sharing the day with a presentation by the Fire Department.  The funny thing was that as soon as the fire fighter saw Julie traipsing in a bunch of animals into the building she said to Julie "ahh! you have animals!!  all i've got is a 20 minute canned video about making an escape plan. I'm dead!".

In actuality, Julie did a great job of preparing and was a natural in front of the kids.  The kids came in two groups; one hour each.  Julie brought five animals with her and started her presentation by showing the kids the different animals she brought and telling them a little bit about each.  First up was a bearded dragon with a missing foot and tail section. 

Next was Summer (our old Cockatiel) followed closely by a big, fat rabbit and a snake.

And of course we brought Indy - who was the hit of the show!  The kids couldn't get enough of her.  Indy was having fun... but she was so exhausted by the end of the presentations she slept all the way home in the car.

Julie also took in a bunch of her 'tools of the trade' to show the kids.  Any quess as to what Julie considers her most valuable tool at work?  Please leave your guess as a comment and Julie will let you know the correct answer!

After the informal presentation she let the kids do one of three stations.  The first was to touch and feel the animals that she had brought.  I think the snake (thank you Brandon!) was the biggest hit.  The line was certainly long for that one.

She also brought along some xrays and a viewer.  The xrays ranged from a big snake to a dog with 8 puppies in her belly.  Some of the kids were entirely mesmerized by the different animals.  Some of the images were of 'stuff gone wrong';  a frog that ate pebbles and broken bones!  Here's a few of the kids checking out a surgically repaired broken leg.

The other station was a series of foods that various animals eat.  There was even a worksheet where the kids could guess which animals ate which foods.  Clever.  Then, Julie walked them through the various foods and gave the the right answers.  Needless to say, the snake was the one that ate the frozen mice babies ;)

For all her nervousness Julie did an amazing job.  She was a real rock star.  As we were heading out the door I could hear the fire fighter muttering.. "no fair!  she had animals!".