Lions, tigers and Amy, oh my!

Amy Marchese is a seventeen year old senior in high school and has gone to Aurora her whole life. In previous years, she has spent her summers hiking, fishing and hanging out with friends, but this year was different. While this past summer still consisted of all these activities One of the many unique activities she did this summer included interning at the Cleveland Zoo.

Marchese has always had a love for animals and this past summer she got the opportunity to explore her passion. Through the zoo’s website she found a page that advertised for interning at

the zoo for a day.

Marchese said, “I had to fill out an application explaining my background with animals and why I wanted to do the program.”

For someone like Marchese, this was easy for her because she’s always been around animals whether it be with her own pets or volunteering at rescue village.

When talking to Marchese, she revealed the main reason why she decided to pursue the program. Her response was, “I like animals and I want to go into a career with animals.”

Although the internship was only for a day, she got to experience and learn about a variety of animals.

“Most were birds, but I got to feed a wallaby, porcupine and multiple reptiles.”

While encountering all of these animals, she got the opportunity to learn more about what the job entails and how to care for some of the animals. Out of all the animals, she said, “My favorite part was interacting with the raven.”

Overall, this experience for Marchese was memorable, fun and a great learning experience.

“I would do it again and I recommend it to others too.”

Interning at the zoo is now another factor that makes Marchese a unique student and something that she can carry with her through her future career.