The Zoo Trip is a trip for students in Mrs. Farina’s AP Biology class and Mrs. Bucheit’s Environmental’s and Natural Resources class, and takes place on April 24 from homeroom to the afternoon after school ends. The trip used to cost money, however, due to the district seeing this as an integral part of the curriculum, it is now free for student admission. Money must still be brought if students planned to buy lunch, and can be brought if students would have wanted to buy things from the gift shop.
This trip has been an ongoing thing for 10 years, though was cancelled for a few years due to the COVID pandemic. This trip has AP Biology students work on a project involving animal behavior, where they choose an animal they like and study how it behaves at the zoo. The Environmental and Natural Resources class does various activities from biodiversity studies to scavenger hunts. Past experiences all went well, since the students enjoyed getting out of the school and doing something fun, especially since it is always nicer weather. For AP students, it used to be required by the College Board, with students instead being expected to conduct research with pill bugs. When Mrs. Farina saw an opportunity to modify the lab to study larger animals, she believed it would have been a great opportunity to do something different. Several students were approached by zoo employees and questioned on what they were doing at the zoo, with those students having engaging conversations with the employees that work with the animals every day. Mrs. Farina hopes that students will find value in working with organizations like the Philly Zoo to have an understanding and willingness to preserve certain animal species.
The Zoo trip was one of the best days of school I have had in a while. The group of people I went with was Sophomore Samantha Gartner, Angelica Hess, and Keya Patel. The group overall was very inclusive, and it was nice to get out and actually talk to people outside of my common friend group. The only thing I can say that I did not enjoy was the heat for the trip, but that was something small I could handle for the time being. Without a second thought, if offered, I would go on this trip again in a heartbeat. Our group went to the McNeil Avian Center, the Peco Primate Reserve, the Reptile and Amphibian House, and so much more. We saw peacocks, gorillas, turtles, flamingoes, otters, and so many more. I will remember this trip for the rest of my high school career, and possibly more, and I will be forever grateful that I got this opportunity.
If students have thoughts on taking either AP Environmental with Mrs. Bucheit, Environmental and Natural Resources with Bucheit, or AP Biology with Mrs. Farina, but are unsure, I hope that this article helps students make their decision. The class in general is fun, but the Zoo Trip as a whole is an added bonus to the already amazing class.
