High school students at the Zoo Academy in Cincinnati, Ohio obtain on-the-job learning and college preparation during their school day. The program, a partnership between the Cincinnati school system and the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, houses about 35 juniors and seniors in a two-room school house on the zoo grounds. Each student spends two hours in “lab,” helping zookeepers perform daily tasks. The rest of the day is filled by high level coursework in English, math, social studies and lots of science. The hands-on work in the zoo provides the students a connection between coursework, lectures and real world application; it makes their education interesting and relevant.

“Zoo School” students apply by simply signing up; there are no other requirements. They enroll in the Cincinnati Academy for Mathematics and Science and take the standard college-preparatory curriculum offered at that school-within-a-school at the Hughes High School. In their junior year, students move into the on-site schoolhouse; juniors work with the zookeepers from 8 to 10 am and seniors work at the end of the day.

Many alternative programs are criticized for low expectations in traditional coursework. Yet Zoo’s students’ complain that the work is harder than the math and science magnet they attended as underclassmen. Over the past three years, 90 percent of the seniors have gone to college and about 25 of the approximately 100 zookeepers at the Cincinnati Zoo are graduates of the program. Many of the students in the program join with the intention of going on to a career in animal care, veterinary medicine, conservation or other animal-related field. But many also decide the field isn’t for them. Either way, the students at the Zoo School have a very strong college-prep education with lots of science coursework, a sense of work ethic and an original experience in an interesting and engaging environment.

Contact:
Glen Schulte
Team Leader, Zoo Academy
(513) 281-4700 x8767
SchultG@cpsboe.k12.oh.us