Hi! My name is Maria Ives and I am a middle school life science teacher. When I was a kid, I loved animals! I loved trips to the Bronx Zoo and reading about animals in books and magazines. But, what thrilled me most of all was when I experienced animals in their native environment.
My grandparents had a house in Vermont where my family would spend weekends and vacations. The house had no electricity or running water, and when I described it to my friends, they didn’t think that it sounded like fun. I loved it, though! My cousins and I went on many hikes and I always slowed down the group by constantly picking up rocks, looking for salamanders and searching for snakes. I was fascinated by seeing tadpoles in the water. Although I loved zoos and aquariums, I knew that I wanted to experience animals where they lived. When I saw the film "Gorillas In The Mist," which tells the story of Dian Fossey, I hoped to one day travel to Africa to see mountain gorillas, but I had never even flown on a plane. As I grew up, I knew that I wanted to become a teacher, but I also wanted to explore. A summer job would provide me with some direction as to how I could do both.
My career started when I worked in the education department of the Bronx Zoo for a summer.
