Wildlife Education Class

Most of the people around me seem to have their life figured out. They’ve got a career ladder they can climb up, or they’ve found some hobby that motivates them. When it comes to knowing what I want to do with my life, I feel very far behind my peers. After high school I thought I wanted to be a social worker, and so I worked toward my associates in psychology. When that was completed, I went back to school and got my bachelors in environmental science. I realized that my passions lie in working to help the planet, but I didn’t know in what field. I thought data gathering, entry, and lab work would be where I ended up, but after teaching and leading a few events during my internships, I discovered my true passion is environmental education.

This past weekend I completed one of the most stressful and fun assignments I’ve ever had. My current class required me to teach at least five people of any age a class in wildlife education. I wanted to teach children so I talked to my boyfriend’s mother. She rounded up kids from her neighborhood. I asked around my work. Together we assembled 13 children. Saturday afternoon gathered in the park for the lesson, I taught, and loved every single minute of it.

We started with a quick game where I used flash cards I had made to gauge the level of each students knowledge. The goal was to see how many common Ohio animals the kids knew and if they knew the basic facts of each animals. After that we played animal charades where the children got to act out the animal of their choice, and all the other kids got to guess. Then we created an animal collage using cut outs of wild and domestic animals as a way to teach the kids which animals they can have as pets and which animals must remain wild. Lastly we went back and played animal charades again because it was such a huge hit. I also showed the children a house finch nest, and I gave out stickers, candy, and plastic toy animals.

To the surprise of the parents, I felt completely refreshed and energized after the lesson even though many of the kids were in “summer break mode” and did not want to focus (I completely lost them when the ice cream truck passed). I know for a fact now that teaching environmental education is what I want to do with my life. Every part of the assignment made me happy, from the prep work to the teaching. It’s so refreshing to know what I want to do with my life. Now I just have to find a job that allows me to do that or just get my foot in the door. I know how much work that is going to be but I’m ready to do it because I finally found my passion.

Do you remember when you found what drives you, your passion, are you still looking? Did it just “click” or, like me, did you have to search and search? Did you know from a young age or are you still looking for the thing that moves you? Please share in the comments.