A "Visit" from Elk Country Visitor Center

Despite being a short week for everyone due to a long weekend, this week has been jam-packed with fun and exciting activities! The most exciting part was having my Fish and Wildlife class on Monday and Tuesday take part in Keystone Elk Country Alliance's distance learning program.

I first learned about Keystone Elk Country Alliance, or KECA, back in February when a colleague informed me about the unique program they were running in regard to distance learning. Up until now, I had heard about different educational programs ran through the Elk Country Visitors Center, but I didn't know specifically about KECA or their distance learning program. Through this program, they Zoom into the classroom and educate the group on elk anatomy, elk history, and the importance of these animals in PA. Meanwhile, they send an "elk trunk" to the school that is filled with different educational materials such as an elk skull, elk bones, an elk pelt, antlers, and more! This allows for the students to still be hands on with the materials, despite the KECA educators being virtual. I thought this was an amazing opportunity and fit in well with all that we are learning about in Fish and Wildlife, so I scheduled a visit. 

--

This experience was really fantastic. I felt like it was a great adaptation to our current situation of not
being able to have guest speakers come in, but was more interactive than just having someone Zoom into class. The program that KECA put on was very informative and educational, too. It was fun, interactive, and the students had a great time learning all about this species in PA. I also learned so much, and the class and I had a really fun time unpacking the elk trunk and getting to be hands-on with all the cool things KECA sent. 

The best part for me was that KECA reiterated a lot of the concepts we already learned about in the course such as the history of wildlife management, wildlife regulatory agencies, adaptations, and species interactions with others and the environment. After the "visit" we had a great discussion about all those topics and tied it into the elk presentation as well as other species we have previously talked about. Seeing as we're also nearing the end of the quarter, this presentation was a great way to review some of the main concepts covered in the class. 

This visit was also great because we were able to discuss various careers in wildlife and conservation after the presentation. This class is primarily freshmen, too, so I loved being able to broaden their horizons with different career possibilities. I was even able to have some more in depth conversations with some of my students about how they could get involved with KECA or another wildlife organization similar to them! 

All in all, I thought the program was a huge success and both the students and I learned so much from it. I will definitely be asking KECA to "visit" again in the future!