When many think of the zoo, their first thoughts go to the animals that are managed there and the experiences they enjoy when visiting. But if the zoo merely relied on its collection of animals to justify its existence, what substance would we have to offer the community to rally around?

The animals and their welfare are but one of the legs that the zoo rests upon. A second is conservation which creates a direct connection to the animals and opportunities to talk about the challenges they face in the wild and participate in protecting their wild cousins and the habitats they live in. Finally, the third leg of the stool is education. For what good is information if it is not shared with others.

The zoo prides itself on the strength of all three, but the education leg may be most overlooked, but its importance is the lessons offered today that may inspire the generation of tomorrow.

The Roosevelt Park Zoo may be considered a small zoo when ranked by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) based on its size, the number of animals and its annual budget, however, from my experience, great things come from small packages. With a full-time staff of 15 that include 10 animal keepers, a curator, veterinarian, public programs manager, education coordinator, and zoo director, the zoo focuses its efforts to maintain those three main pillars to ensure we are meeting the needs of the zoo and community. This article has often discussed both the animals and conservation efforts but has seldom really gotten into the importance of our education programming.

As mentioned, we have a single education coordinator. Last year, 2023, we presented over 400 programs for over 11,000 people. As I went through the education information to prepare annual reports, it was a bit difficult to dissect out all of the information because of how it was recorded, but in an effort to make it easier to understand I broke down the programs into presentations on zoo grounds (158), schools (146), daycares (40), community (39), senior care (22), and special needs (4). The most prevalent were the classes on zoo grounds that also included camps and birthday parties, but school programs were a close second. Regardless of the venue, the presentations range in both topics and animals presented. Some programs are referred to as Zoo-to-You and others as just Outreach.

Programming is designed for each audience that may range in age from toddlers to seniors. Most often the off-site programming is in Minot or nearby communities, but often travel is required for programs beyond what most would think. The education coordinator may find himself loading up animals to head to Williston, Devils Lake or Bottineau.

Looking through all the data, it is amazing the number of programs performed and individuals reached through the zoo’s education programming. Like the other areas of the zoo, educational programming never seems to slow regardless of the time of year. The strength of the zoo’s education program is the third leg of the stool and trusting that it is as strong as the other two legs ensures the zoo sits on a strong foundation that will help carry it well into the future.