This year I needed to finish my Y.T.A. volunteering, I had about fifteen hours left, and was planning on taking the class for the second term in the winter term this year. I thought that I should get my hours done before hand because I had a lot of free time to do so. I knew that I wanted to try to do something at the zoo if possible, and upon looking for some kind of school program I found out that the family farm takes in high school interns for a 21 hour, 7 week internship. I contacted Kathy Harris, asking her if the internship worked for school volunteering hours, filled out the application, and had an interview with Kathy. The interview was fairly easy, she asked a lot about having experience with animals, and you really do not have to have any experience to get into the program. We made a day and time for me to do my volunteering, and that was it for the application process.

The first day I met my supervisor, his name was Eric, he had been in the zoo teens program for five years, he gave me my name tag, which is your ticket into the zoo when your volunteering, and he helped me sign in. I also found out that after your done volunteering for the day, and after you sign out, you can explore the zoo without having to pay. When you get to the barn, you have to change your clothes to keep from transferring any diseases to the other exhibits or from home to the farm. After changing you start working; cleaning pens, checking the health of the animals, preparing food. The first thing we would do is to clean the goat’s pen, outside then inside, and clean their water bowls, then we move on to the cows, then the pigs. It was pretty easy but time consuming work, and you could talk and joke with each other as long as the work was getting done. Though I liked working in the barn, my favorite thing I did in those seven weeks was the two weeks when they sent my partner Crystal and I into the house. The house is where they keep all the extra animals from the farm and other education animals, they have; seven Rabbits, five Rats, three Ferrets, Ducks, four Doves, 1 Armadillo, two Tortoises, three Turtles, two Hydrosaurus, two Bearded Dragons, three Gofer snakes, seven or so Corn snakes, four Boas, one Taiwan Beauty snake, and a few other reptiles that I do not remember.

During my time at the farm I learned a lot about caring for the animals, what it would be like to be a zoo keeper, and many behind the scenes things about the zoo that most people do not get to see or hear about. Of all of the volunteering I have done for Y.T.A. I think that I finally learned why they make us do the volunteering, and how it can help us later in life. Overall I think that is was definitely worth sacrificing my Friday mornings, waking up early, and driving all the way out to the zoo once a week, because I learned so much about the animals and myself, and I also ended up making a really good friend, Crystal. I would definitely suggest to anyone from my school to try doing some of their volunteering for Y.T.A. at the Oregon Zoo Family Farm.