For Kayla Manley and Nathan Garrison, the Lincoln Children’s Zoo Adventures program opened their eyes, their hearts and their minds to the world beyond.
The 20- and 22-year-old Lincoln college students saved sea turtles from poachers in Costa Rica, tracked tapir and observed conch in Belize and helped save Galapagos tortoise in Ecuador
This July, they will work with cheetahs in South Africa.
Just three spots remain for the zoo’s first Expedition South Africa, a joint, hands-on conservation tour offered for youth ages 14 to 20, in partnership with Classic Escapes.
As part of the tour, July 9-18, youth will work with hand-raised cheetahs at the De Wildt Cheetah & Wildlife Center, participate in conservation efforts at the Entabeni Game Reserve and immerse themselves in the culture through community outreach and tours of Johannesburg and the Lesedi Cultural Village.
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For Manley, 20, this will be her fifth Adventures Expedition. For Garrison, 22, it will be his fourth.
Adventures program is designed to open young eyes to career opportunities in conservation and influence their lifelong understanding of the world around them, said Ryan Gross, director of creative strategy with the zoo.
Executive Director John Chapo, who for decades has led adult eco-tourism expeditions to South Africa, India and Central America, said that although the travel stops are similar, the experience is not.
The youth are “hands-on, hearts on,†Chapo said. The adults are “heads-on, hearts-on.â€
“We want to connect youth, have them look to the future and inspire them,†Chapo said.
For adults, the approach is lifelong learning, as opposed to a life-shifting decision.
Manley and Garrison say their experiences have definitely changed them.
“I found myself as a person,†Manley said. “It sounds a little cliche. But I discovered my independence and that I was capable of doing things that I never thought I could do. I feel more connected to everything.
“... In America we are so engulfed in ourselves. We are in a bubble. I feel like I popped my personal bubble. There is a lot more out there than what we are taught and what we think and what we know.â€
Manley and Garrison both worked as Zoo Crew volunteers in middle school. When they outgrew the program, they joined the zoo staff working in the education department with camps, programming and special events. Garrison fills in wherever needed, be it manning the Critter Outpost, painting a restroom or trimming trees.
A farm boy, Garrison always knew his career was with animals and conservation.
“Working here just confirmed that love,†Garrison said of the zoo. He learned of the Adventures after the first group returned from Costa Rica.
“They told me about all the cool things they were doing with the animals," he said. "And I knew I wanted to experience that."
The following summer, he did traveling with Adventures on its second journey to Costa Rica.
“We walked up and down the beach at night looking for sea turtles -- it was treacherous, but fun,†he said, referring to their task of protecting sea turtles and their eggs from poachers. “It gave me a wider perspective of what the zoo’s goal of conservation is."
And it opened his eyes to the world beyond U.S. borders
“It really interests me to see how people live in other countries," Garrison said referring to his visits to Costa Rica, Ecuador and Belize. "Here there is the white picket fence mentality. Down there it is completely different in how they live. It’s really eye-opening.â€
People are a lot more connected to the environment, Garrison added.
“In Belize, 90 percent of the economy is ecotourism," he said. "That plays a huge role in conservation and how they are working to conserve so much more than we do here."
Garrison will graduate from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in December with a degree in fisheries and wildlife management with the option of zoo animal care.
Manley says the Lincoln Children’s Zoo has always been her home away from home. She visited often as a child and has photos of her riding the ponies, posing on the tortoise statue and dressed in a Halloween costume beside The Wizard (a.k.a. Chapo) at a long ago Boo at the Zoo. Like Garrison, she graduated out of Zoo Crew and went on to land a job with the zoo.
“I feel like I have come full circle. I grew up here, and the zoo is the only job I’ve ever had,†Manley said.
She was just 17 when she made that first Adventure expedition to Costa Rica.
“It was amazing. It opened my eyes to so many different things. It was my first time out of the country. My first time traveling without my mom. I grew so much. I was a different person when I came home.â€
And she knew she would find a way to fund her way on the next Adventure.
“I babysat a lot,†she said.
These days, her zoo salary goes right toward her Adventures expedition.
Before taking her first expedition, Manley planned to become a high school science teacher. Adventures changed that.
“I realized I wanted to teach people what I learned and what I know in whatever way works for them,†she said. “I didn’t want to be told what I had to tell them … I learned so much out of the classroom. That I don’t want to limit that knowledge to a classroom.â€
She changed her major to wildlife ecology and transferred from UNL to Peru State College. Her dream job is working in a zoo education department -- preferably at the Lincoln Children’s Zoo.
But Aimee Johns, the current education director and Manley’s boss, has no intention of giving up the coveted post or the Adventures program, which she started in 2012.
The idea actually came to her while she was the education director for the Strategic Air and Space Museum in Ashland.Â
“I heard kids saying ‘I’d love to be an astronaut, but I could never do that,’" she said. "It was heartbreaking to hear them have a goal and then hear a child think they couldn’t do that."
Working with Nebraska astronaut and family friend Clayton Anderson, she started a summer youth camp in which students experienced a mini-immersion into NASA.
When she left the museum for the Lincoln Children’s Zoo, she brought the immersion idea with her.
“There are so many more possibilities at the zoo,†Johns said.
The program started with an adventure to Florida, where students experienced marine biology through snorkeling and working behind the scenes in a marine laboratory.
Five years ago, the program went international.
Up until now, Adventures focused on work with reptiles.
“We’re working our way around the globe and working our way through animal classifications,†Johns said, noting this will be the first mammal-focused expedition.
And what magnificent mammals they will work with -- from cheetahs, to elephants, to lions and more.
â€Àá³Ù’s Africa,†Manley said, shivering with excitement. “That’s all you can say."