Herpetology Club collaborates with the SHS school community yet again to introduce a multitude of students to the wonderful world of reptiles. The club, run by advisor Mr. Grimard and President Corey Oliveira, has been quite active this year with events like nature outings and educational lessons for the club members. And so, the event that has gained so much popularity over the years has made an appearance yet again in hopes to include more people from the school interested in learning about reptiles!
During Wildcat on Thursday, January 15th a few weeks ago, Herpetology Club held a handling event where students, regardless of previous experience with reptiles, were able to handle snakes and geckos with the guidance of club members–all of whom have been trained in proper handling of these animals.
Corey Oliveira (junior) attests to this, having told us how, “The Monday before, we’ll all come down to Ms. Wagner’s room after school and practice handling them, just so that everyone has a refresh on the techniques…”
The event was run solely by student members of the Herpetology Club, and, as credit to their ability to run it successfully, like Secretary Austin Seagrave (freshman) put it, “Everybody seems really engaged and entertained.”
Students had a lot of fun handling the snakes, which would be held by students and climb onto them, with one fan favorite being a corn snake called Checkers. Checkers, among two other snakes, was the first to be held before the event moved onto handling another type of reptile: geckos. The geckos were widely loved by students at the event, and, rather hilariously, would occasionally try to crawl under sleeves or into pockets. One highlight of that section was Stubby, the tailless crested gecko, jumping onto the camera after I got too close when trying to take a picture.
The Herpetology Club plans on continuing events like this due to high demand from students as seen from the almost 20 kids who joined this event; a much higher number than previous handling courses. The club is always looking for new ways to be involved with the school community and is constantly searching for new members who show an interest in reptiles and amphibians.
