What is Bridging the Gap?

Photo By: Nebraas Shahzad

Hello everyone my name is Nebraas Shahzad and I am from the Bronx Zoo cohort , right now i'm at the Bronx Zoo. Today is Wednesday which means the zoo is free, so there are a lot of people roaming the zoo right now looking at many of the different animals that the Bronx Zoo has. I was just by the sea lion exhibit but I could not see a thing due to all the people that were surrounding the sea lions. Like today I usually get to see the beautiful wonders of the zoo and all the animals that live here. This is all because of Bridging the Gap, a zoo program that allows teens who are interested in animal careers to see what the zoo is like and help them through many things like their future career, college process, finical aid choices, plus many more. I was with Bridging the Gap since January, I would have never thought I would be connect with the zoo in anyway but, when I got accepted, I was very happy. This internship has taught me so much interesting stuff and opened my eyes on how the zoo really works. I would say the best part about being in this program was listening to all the cool stories all the staff had about their experiences with zoos and all the little fun facts about animals-or anything really! Not to mention we pretty much got into the zoo for free.

I have always wanted to be a veterinarian and now I know that the reason I wanted to be a vet was because I didn't really know there was any other career that helped animals like a vet would.  However, being in Bridging the Gap made me realize that there is many more careers then being a vet. Now I want to be a zoologist and realized that you can help animals in many other ways. I also got to learn about the history of the zoo and how the idea of zoos changed over time. Actually just the thought of knowing information not a lot of other people have access to makes me feel more excited to learn even more-which was another thing that I really liked about this program. I mean what more can you ask for: you get free access to the zoo,  learn fun facts about zoo careers and animals, listen to cool stories from WCS staff, meet new people, ride around in carts, and interact with awesome animals. Please comment on how your experience with Bridging the Gap has been.

                                                                                                          -Nebraas Shahzad