CourtesyScience education major Brittni Conrardy鈥檚 cooperative education experience with 成人头条 helped her find a job working with animals.
Conrardy loves science, and she wants to teach high school biology after college.
鈥淚鈥檓 really good at science,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 excelled in my science classes more than anything else.鈥�
She prefers animal science and broad spectrum ecology to cell or micro biology.
鈥淚 do like the zoology part of biology,鈥� she said, which inspired her to work with animals.
She received her associate degree in science from Dodge City Community College before transferring to WSU in fall 2009. The same semester, she began her internship with Tanganyika Wildlife Park in Goddard.
She found the job on her own, but Jennifer Brantley, coordinator for WSU鈥檚 cooperative education department, created credit hours to match Conrardy鈥檚 work.
鈥淏y working in a field related to their major, students will be able to develop job references and connection that will be useful,鈥� Brantley said.
Tanganyika interns rotate feeding stations, so they work with different animals each day. Conrardy enjoyed feeding lemurs, lorikeets, giraffes, rabbits and tortoises.
Interns are also required to educate tour groups about each exhibit and the animals within and answer visitor questions.
Tanganyika supervisors gave Conrardy a packet of information about the park and its animals before she began, but 鈥渆verything else was about learning and listening and applying it,鈥� she said.
Her background in biology helped her at Tanganyika.
鈥淚 know more about the animals themselves,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 know why the lorikeets have to eat what they eat.鈥�
When visitors asked her difficult or off-the-wall questions, she said she鈥檚 known the answer 鈥渜uite a few times鈥� because of her experience in biology.
Zookeepers do everything else, Conrardy said, and each animal group has keepers.
鈥淥nly two or three people can touch the (big) cats,鈥� she said.
As an intern, Conrardy also had to clean the exhibits and make sure everything looked nice for visitors. That included scooping poop.
But she also had to know everything about the park, including in the gift shop, at the ticket counter and when selling food or drinks to customers. She also has learned valuable customer service skills.
鈥淚f I鈥檓 going to be a teacher, then I need to be better at my presentations,鈥� she said, and, at Tanganyika, she is teaching groups of people much like a classroom of students.
She now works at All Paws Pet Center, a family-owned pet supply store, which sells natural, holistic food, healthy treats, bedding and pet apparel.
At her new job, she has to know how animals digest food.
鈥淭anganyika has helped me with that,鈥� she said, 鈥渁nd even just using the cash register and talking to people.鈥�
Tanganyika is closed for the season, and Conrardy is unsure whether she鈥檒l go back and work in the spring.