My connection with the Maryland Zoo (then the Baltimore Zoo) started in 1986, when I joined the Junior Keeper teen volunteer Program.  I left Baltimore for Bowdoin College in Maine, where I earned a B.A. degree with a double major in Environmental Studies and Anthropology. I also spent a semester with the School for Field Studies in Nairobi, Kenya. I spent eight years in a sales career before returning to Baltimore and taking a job managing the Zoo’s volunteer program. I have been here over 18 years, and the highlight of my career is seeing over 1,400 teen volunteers go on to wonderful young people grow up to be conservation advocates. If not working at the Zoo, I would probably be an anthropologist (or running a cheese shop, which really is the dream.)