Grad student Joey Chase and I hosted a station at YVC’s Earthfest yesterday. We took some colleagues with us — Pretzel (a rubber boa), Jill (a gopher snake) as well as a night snake and an alligator lizard who seem to still be waiting for proper names, an issue I plan to address with their official carettakers this week.
YVC’s Ken Zontek and Dodie Forrest did an amazing job of organizing the event to make it effortless for the folks hosting stations. Ken was waiting when we got there with parking passes. The tables were all set up and clearly labeled. All we needed to do was walk in the door and set up our materials. Both organizers stopped by the station at intervals to make sure we had what we needed. They provided lunch, hand delivered to every station. I’ve done a lot of these events and I can say without reservation that this was the most well-organized one I’ve ever attended.
I was prepared to face hordes of unruly students approaching the table just to get the sticker they needed to place on the “bingo” card they could trade for the chance to win a prize. What we got were hordes of interested, curious students who treated not only Joey and me, but our outreach animals with courtesy and respect.
The best thing about the whole event was that so many students who were seriously afraid of snakes hovered around our station, working up the courage to face their fears. Eventually every one of them stepped forward for a close-up snake encounter. They’d put out one finger and touch the snake as if he were a hot stove, and then look at Joey and me in astonishment at the sudden realization that the snake was just a little animal after all. Then they’d reach out again and pet the snake gently, really seeing him for the first time. I hope they carried that lesson away with them and will keep it in mind when they encounter a snake in the wild!