Recent Wesleyan graduate Maria Arreola '15 (B.S. in Biology) is up to her eyebrows in lizards — and opossums, and parrots and spiders … oh my.

Shortly after graduating, Maria applied for an internship in education outreach at the Fort Worth Zoo. Her internship was so successful that she was offered a full-time position as an education outreach specialist.

Her job allows her to bring living animals into classrooms and talk about them to kids ranging from 3 years to middle school.

She especially enjoys the parrots and the reptiles, and pointing out special animal adaptations like the taste-testing Jacobson’s organ in snakes.

Her job isn’t all show and tell; she also has the responsibility of caring for the creatures that she talks about. She says that talking to students makes her nervous. And the giant lizards don’t?