Age:
17
Sponsor:
The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore
School:
Jemicy School
City:
Baltimore
Biography:
Hello, evrey one my name is Jesse Kline and I am 17 years old and I live in Baltimore, Maryland. Im a senure at Jemicy School. I love playing sports with my Friends like football and soccer. I have a little sister and her name is Katty and i love her to death but she dose not live with me. I love reptiles of all shapes and sizes but my faveret are snakes and crocodilions. I like to go on hicks looking for snakes and i have found a couple differnt types like timber rattle sankes and copper heads. I hope to be a herpotoligest/consevationist one day. I ve been volunteering at zoos for the last five years, and I see myself working with animals for the rest of my life. When I was in fourth grade, I had trouble in school because of my learning disability dyslexia. I was never good at reading or spelling, and didn t feel like I fit in anywhere. During recess, I would not hang around with the other kids because I was too busy digging around in the dirt looking for little bugs.
Fortunately, my mom found an ad in the newspaper requesting volunteers for the Catoctin Wildlife Preserve and Zoo. I was one of fifty children interviewed, and I was selected for the position. I was very happy to work behind the scenes with the zoo-keeper and to help out with the animals. I especially enjoyed working with Grizz (the grizzly bear) everyday. When I called his name, he would come running over and sit right in front of me cross-legged, like a person. He would make affectionate noises and try to reach me through the exhibit. If I tried to reach back, he would flop on his back like an 800 lb dog waiting for me to rub his belly. Of course I never rubbed his belly because it would be to dangeris. I also made my first American alligator friend, Chomper. I was the only person who was allowed to pet him. He would hiss at everyone else and try to bite them. However, each time I called him, he would come over as fast as he could and allow me to pet him.
I volunteered at the Catoctin Wildlife Preserve and Zoo for at least two summers, and then after moving to Baltimore, I applied at the MD Zoo in Baltimore. After going through a terrifying interview of fifty or more questions, I managed to get the volunteer position. I was horrified and excited at the same time. I was afraid that I wouldn t do well, and I didn t know exactly what I was getting myself into. I had a six-week training course with other accepted applicants and made new friends. After the training course, I was allowed to choose where I wanted to work in the zoo, and I chose the MD Wilderness.
Currently, I am still volunteering at the MD Wilderness with the otters, snakes, toads, and frogs......... Mary, the otter, likes seeing me when I come in on my workdays to clean her cage. She often makes noises, and runs around excitedly. Sometimes she is funny when she drags her back legs through the exhibit. When she is on exhibit under water, and she sees people through the glass, she will attempt to chase them. She really likes it when I hold a white Tupperware container up to the glass because it looks like her food bowl. She will scratch at the glass, trying to get it. She is very food-motivated!
Working with animals has made me much happier in my life and has helped me figure out what I want to do in my future. When I get older, I want to be a zoo keeper or an ambassador for animals because animals need people to speak up for them and to provide them with protection.
Because humans tend to care less about the environment and more about themselves and fancy cars. I am concerned about the effect that this will have on the wildlife population. Many beautiful and passionate animals, on a yearly basis, continue to join the already extensive list of extinct animals. If animals only remain in our memories and pictures, no one will be able to experience the breathtaking animals on our planet firsthand. It is important to remember that we have only one world and one chance to make things right. I am also so exited to meet the rest of the kid that have been chosen, im shere that they are a grate buch of people.
Sunday, October 8, 2006
4:32 PM
Well I guess it is time to say goodbye. Sadly, I will definitely miss everyone here! I have made lots of friends from around the world. But I guess that good things have to end sooner or later.
I have learned lots of things and will have to do lots of presentations all over the place! I'll need to tell people about my experiences and all the things that I have learned on this trip. It is difficult to pick out specifics, but I think that I was most changed by our visit with the fur trappers. I really have a different opinion of their role in the arctic habitat.
My new friends and I will still stay in contact and I will have to visit some of the people all the other places, such as Shelby from California, Mikkeline from Denmark, and Tamara and Emily from Australia. And to tell you the truth, I really do not want to go home! It is so exciting and definitely not boring - I don't know, I just might cry. So goodbye for now this is the last entry in my journal!
Goodbye
Jesse Kline or Dr. Jezz
Friday, October 6, 2006
6:50 PM
Oh my goodness there is no way to explain, I gees you could say AMAZING but its not
the best word to explain it. The best helicopter rides in the world and I got to share it with some amazing people such as Tamara, Jack, John, and Emily and a really cool pilot Adam. And the best Helicopter in this fleet it was the fastest and the coolest and nice lather seats. The Helicopter ride tock at lest 30 mints to get there but I was hoping it would never end and we could stay in the air for ever, and it was so also when he had to fly around to make sure that there were no polar bears in the area and then made the coolest land ever he came in really fast and land going side ways. Then when we landed everyone got to walk on the tundra and it was really cool to it felt like foam it was so bouncy but it was reindeer lichen and moss. We go to play tackle foot ball American foot ball that is it was really fun but of course I never was tackled but I gave a few good shots and that was fun. And then I was able to go in the polar bear den and it was really cool and it was small but it was cool and I fond a polar bear there and it was really fun than we came back and that is pretty much it.
Catch ya later
Jesse or Dr. Jezz
Thursday, October 5, 2006
5:11 PM
Hi there to my first period class. I forgot to say hi the first day. Sorry I was way too busy. Well today was just like yesterday with Robert singing us awake first thing in the morning. And trust me it was early, really early. Kathryn Foat from Maryland Zoo in Baltimore came in last night and will stay for awhile. She was the person who helped me find out about this experience in the first place. She is a good person to know. We also had 3 trappers come in last night and talk about their profession. When I first thought about trapping, I thought it was bad because the people are just killing animals and not really caring about the animal populations. But I was totally wrong! These people are actually aware of the population of animals in their registered trap areas and stop collecting them when they started catching females that may be pregnant. They don t want to catch those because then they would not be able to give birth and have animals for next year s season. They also told us how global warming is affecting them and how their techniques have to alter for the climate and weather changes. They have noticed that the seasons are a little different and that winter has ended sooner recently. I never knew that trapping would be an indicator on how the environment was doing.
Today we had a live videoconference presentation with 60 kids at Mapleton School in Selkirk (which is outside of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada). It was really fun, even though I had to talk to the camera, and I was a little nervous. It was pretty amazing that we were able to connect with these kids so far away from up here in the sub-arctic tundra. I think the kids liked talking to us up here.
The CBC camera men should be back tomorrow for the television show. We are going to take some helicopters out to a polar bear denning site on the permafrost. This will be my first time on a helicopter. It should be really really fun, and I hope I do not get sick.
Catch Ya later
Jesse or Dr.Jezz
Wednesday, October 4, 2006
10:12 PM
Me again, I woke up at some early time to Robert singing what a beautiful morning really loud and the lights thrown on. Then we eat breakfast it was pancakes and sausages, did not eat much because we do not do that mach athletic activities so you now. Than we went back on the tundra buggy and did a project on one of the chapters in the books that we were given it was really fun. And we saw the mom and cub today again and a big male bear that ran off when we got too close. We had hot soup on the tundra buggy, it was home made so it was pretty good. And then we got to go out on the tundra with a polar bear at lest 300 yards away and get a picture of us and the tundra buggy. After that I toke a quick nap on the buggy and it was really bumpy. And lots of fun with everyone Tamara, Jake, Shelby and Joseph. And we did awesome skit with a song it was awesome, we had the whole place jumping around it was nearly as Shelby would say " It was gnarly!". And then we had dinner and had another presentation with a different types of characters. And now I m dead tired and I m going to bed after I see the northern lights.
Catch-ya later
Jesse Or Dr. Jezz
Tuesday, October 3, 2006
5:33 PM
Hi there again it is a great day, it is owner first time on the tundra buggy. It is really fun it is like a rollercoaster ride, you bounce everywhere , it was cool. But it is so cold out on the tundra. There were lots of fun things to do every day. Especially to day we had lots of fun seeing my first polar bear out in the wild was really cool we even saw a artic fox and a artic hare. They were really hard to see because of there camouflage they look like there surroundings. And to day we live in the tundra buggy lodge, which is a lot of different buggies connected. And that is pretty much every thing for today. Talk to you later.
Monday, October 2, 2006
5:55 PM
I had to wake up at 5:00am and went to breakfast. After breakfast we got a grand tour of Churchill and our tour guide was Kelsey. Wherever we went he had to bring a shotgun just incase we ran into trouble with a bear. Everyone went for a long walk along the shore and it was freezing there was a lot of wind but it was still tons of fun. Then we ate a quick lunch in the tour bus. After all that we came back and played a game wich was called surviver polar bears and when you go some questions right you got a little prize. It is stll really fun to talk to all the people from arond the world from our group and see how they live. And a lot of them are really cool. Oh, and Mom, I'm fine! Do not worry I did not get eaten; YET!
see you later.
Sunday, October 1, 2006
9:45 PM
Hi there every one, we had to get up a 6:00am to get on aware flight to Churchill. We got here around some time cant exactly remember but we were in a vary small plane and it was rile cool. When we were getting ready to land we could not tell that the land was directly below us because it was so fogy, the temperature was around 15 digress. It is rile rile cool here every thing is the color orange or yellow and the trees are vary small and there is only a few. We got to walk around town and to see every thing but the town is rile small and some time Polar bares come into town you will have to get in the closest building. See ya tomorrow
Saturday, September 30, 2006
4:44 PM
It is the second bay and i did not want to wake up but breackfest is at 7:30 it was good. Then after breackfest we had a powerpoint presotation about globle worming and got to see lots of cool picthers. After that we went to Wenipeg zoo and had a debate about if animals sould be in captivity is it negitve or positive for a fuwe minites. Then we got to see a little bit of the zoo because we had to good are right are journal.
Saturday, September 30, 2006
4:37 PM
When i was geting on my flight to Canada the first flight was delayed because of engine problem and that took at lest 40 minutes. Then on the second flight there was another delay because the pilot was not there on time. But when i got here it was really cold and windy. Every one here is really nice and each one is unique and really fun to hang out with. We had dinner, it was alright and after dinner we all went to one room and wached a movie and then went to bed.
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