Association of Zoos and Aquariums

Zoo New England Receives Honors For Education Program

CONTACT: Jane Ballentine, (301)562-0777 x252

NEW ORLEANS 22 September 2004 — The American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA) today honored Zoo New England, Boston, Massachusetts, with a Significant Achievement Award for the Thinking Outside the Classroom: Zoo New England's Unique Partnership with the Beebe School Program. Zoo officials accepted the award at the AZA's 80th Annual Conference, meeting here this week.

Since the fall of 2000, Zoo New England (ZNE) and the Beebe Environmental and Health Science Magnet School (grades K-8) have partnered to integrate environmentally-themed education programming across subject areas and at every grade level. The program's exclusive and long-term focus on one school enables the Zoo to nurture students' growing respect for the environment over the course of years.

Kim Kezer, a ZNE staff person at the Beebe School, administers the program and serves as the liaison responsible for coordinating communication among partner institutions. With her office situated at the school site, this Zoo Educator has developed an excellent rapport with students, teachers, and administrators. The program's success is due, in large part, to the relationships that Kim has facilitated between ZNE staff and the Beebe School community.

Kim has succeeded in tailoring the program to complement the required curriculum and, in this way, helps teachers to achieve their pedagogic goals. As a result, participating teachers have come to embrace the program which, in turn, has changed the culture of the school itself; by translating the school's environmental mission from theory into practice, the Zoo created an educational atmosphere in which students actively engage in local conservation imperatives.

The program has inspired a strong sense of community pride and has led to student-initiated service projects (e.g., recycling, park clean-ups, etc.) that manifest the link between academic subjects and real-life experience. Through this unique program, the Zoo is building ecological literacy and a sense of respect for wildlife and wild lands among the environmental stewards and policy-makers of tomorrow.

Each year, AZA recognizes achievement in the area of education by offering competition among its Institution, Related Organization and Society members. Judging is conducted by a panel of individuals selected by the Conservation Education Committee.

The American Zoo and Aquarium Association was founded in 1924 and currently represents 212 accredited zoos and aquariums in North America. AZA's mission is to support membership excellence in conservation, education, science and recreation.

For more information contact Jo-Anne Baxter at 617-989-2013 or jbaxter@zoonewengland.com.