AP Spanish students present at the MN Zoo

Photo Courtesy of Mary Murray
Each student created a project on a specific animal and shared them at the Minnesota Zoo.

Aidan Luebke, Staff Writer
March 11, 2019

On Wednesday, February 13, students in Ms. Mary Murray’s AP Spanish language class got the opportunity to create projects on a specific animal and share them at the Minnesota Zoo. This was the first time that students at BSM did this project.

Students were divided into groups of about five kids. They were then assigned an animal to research and design a presentation about. For example, one group researched information and wrote a book about the Asian small-clawed otter. The projects took multiple days to make. “My group made a poster about the silver-leaf langur,” senior Aaron Wachowiak said.

When the students got to the zoo, they were stationed in front of their animal and given a table to present on. The students presented for about three to four hours to many different people. Students in the Spanish language internship program at BSM, also known as SLIP, helped judge the presentations.

For many students, the zoo brought back nostalgic experiences. “I had not been to the zoo since probably first grade. I went multiple times as a kid and it brought back many memories. I fed a giraffe there once,” Wachowiak said.

Despite this year being the first time that BSM has participated in the event, the zoo has been doing this for many years. “I was asked to judge the event about five or six years ago. I actually wanted to take students to do the project last year, but I mistakenly signed up for going on the field trip instead of presenting,” Murray said.

The trip was a big success overall. One group from BSM that presented on the Komodo dragon even won an award. This award was only given to three groups who had great creativity, engaged their audience, and used great language proficiency. “I think that our presentations were very well prepared,” Murray said.

The students had a great time overall as well. When they weren’t presenting, they got to walk around the zoo and look at the different exhibits. “It was really fun to do because I remember when I was in the same position as the little kids I presented to,” senior Quentin Struwe said.