Have you ever experienced the days where you do not want to get up and go to work? Well, for me I get up every Saturday and Sunday with a smile on my face. I get up for work, iron my uniform, and throw on my name tag. I head five minutes down the road, right into work. I see all the children and parents lined up; ready for the zoo. I hear the little kids chanting at the top of their lungs. I might even receive a hug from one of the children that day.
I remember heading to my interview with the zoo last winter. There was a huge snow storm but I knew that if I could have any job it would be this one. I walked in with a huge smile on my face, this was my first interview for the summer and extremely excited to see how well it was going to go. I received a call back in a short amount of time asking to take a position on the Admission's Team. Excitement ran through my body! I thought that I was the luckiest girl in the world to have the job and life changing experience.
These are the three many reasons I love working at the Akron Zoo:
1.) The excitement from the children
While working at the Akron Zoo I have had many experiences. The most amazing experience I have had was when a little girl asked her mom if she could "keep" me. This made me blush that a little girl wanted to keep me around for their families whole trip to the zoo. You open the doors at 10 a.m. and see all of the children running through, yelling for the penguins or any of our amazing attractions. You realize how much working at the zoo has changed your life the visitors who continue to come back.
2.) The management and fellow employees.
You have the best supervisors in the whole world. They help work around your schedule and have an influence on your enjoyment for the job. They are kind and willing to lend a helping hand. Your fellow employees will become some of your close friends. You begin by adding each other on Facebook, then exchanging numbers, and now have plans to hang out sometime. I made the greatest friends working at the zoo and couldn't ask for a better support system.
3.) The pride that comes with having a job at the Akron Zoo.
Everyone admires your job and thinks it would be a once in a lifetime experience to work at a zoo. Trust me, they are completely right. Every time someone asks me where I work the reply is, "I work for the Akron Zoo!" (My smile and enthusiasm tells it all.)
I am blessed with the opportunity of meeting and continuing to work with such amazing individuals. My life has been completely changed by the opportunities given to me. Without the zoo I would not be staying in Akron for the summer. They have changed my outlook on working for a non-profit and continue to help me be successful by working around my other job, sorority, and school schedule. Thank you, to the Akron Zoo.
