Kiley Wellendorf | News Co-Editor

On Friday, April 10, Students Concerned About Tomorrow’s Environment (SCATE) gave nineteen Buena Vista University (BVU) students the opportunity to spend the night at the Henry Doorly Zoo. SCATE is an organization on campus that focuses on raising awareness of problems within the environment as well as ways for BVU to solve these problems. This year was the second year SCATE took students to the zoo. Beth Weber, SCATE member, explains how SCATE almost didn’t make it on the trip.

“We had a little trouble getting the word out since we were doing to the weekend after two breaks,” Weber said, “With everybody being off campus so frequently, it can make plans difficult, but we are happy with the amount that came. It was a great time had by all.”

The group left for Omaha around 4 p.m. on Friday and were greeted with a sack lunch from Sodexo upon arrival. After meeting with the zoo staff, students assembled their sleeping bags and tents in the jungle, where students spent the night and also got the chance to go on a night hike after the zoo hours.

“We spent the night getting to explore the jungle at our leisure and then slept in our tents,” Weber said, “At 6 a.m., we were woken up to pack away our tents and then do a morning hike of the zoo before visitors arrived.”

While the trip was only held for a short amount of time, Weber had a number of memorable moments while at the zoo.

“During the night, we get to sleep in the actual Lied Jungle where visitors would walk while touring the zoo,” Weber said, “We could hear birds and bats flying around as they are also settling into their normal routines. I also really enjoy the private hikes.”

This is not the final big event for SCATE, as they will put on an outside event celebrating Earth Day on Wednesday, April 22.

“We want to get the word out about recycling and using the recycling bins each room is supplied with,” Weber said.

SCATE’s final event will be its participation with other clubs on campus on Buenafication Day.

SCATE is currently welcoming in new members without a specific deadline. If you are interested in hearing more about SCATE and the activities this club bring on, please reach out to the following e-mail address: [email protected].

Photo courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons