My first love was... herpetology??

That's right.. before there was arts and crafts, music, teaching or aiding people in discovering their true potential, I wanted to be a herpetologist FIRST!  I wanted to study frogs, snakes, lizards. and turtles (well, I think I was more interested in catching them for researchers, you know, just the fun part of being a herp).  Even though I changed my mind in middle school, I still held jobs that allowed me to live the dream- I worked at Cattus Island in Toms River for a year and Jenkinsons Aquarium as a reptile handler and tour guide for nearly 7 years. 

 My parents picked the best property to settle down, with a quiet backyard behind Beaver Dam Park. That would allow me to be a tenacious child with a net in one hand and bucket in the other.  

Anybody that knows me pretty well would know I love finding (or catching) frogs when I spot them. No net for me; I've got some fast hands! 

When I was a kid, I used to see huge snapping turtles coming up from the creek. Their shells were the size of garbage can lids! My dad would pick 'em up by their tails- I wish so badly I had some photos of that.

It's so exciting to find these little black things in August; they're frog eggs, which means there's something to look forward to next summer.

I love to inspect, measure and ask questions about nature and local ecology. For this reason, I volunteer whenever I can for the Jackson Forestry Festival and Cattus Island Festivals in October. Even though it's a career I won't pursue, I know that the excitement I get from nature reminds me of how much I loved being a kid. In addition, if you show an interest to children that you're young at heart, maybe it will preserve a sense of wonder that kids lose when they're older.