Junior Sophie Arceneaux is known by her friends for her wacky socks, water polo skills and many other things. However, what most do not know is she spends her free time volunteering at the St. Louis Zoo. 

What exactly do you do at the zoo and how often?

I’m a teen volunteer at the zoo for a program that is called Zoo Active Leaders In Volunteer Education (ALIVE). We have a monthly meeting and have to work at least two events a month. During the summer I worked mostly camps, but now I work birthday parties, Bye to Bags booths (teen volunteers came up with this to try to help get rid of plastic bags in the ocean) and overnights. 

How did you find out about this opportunity?

My dad found out about the program from someone at his work, and it seemed like a lot of fun to help out at the zoo.

Do you see a job in this field in your future?

I want to be a marine biologist, so I think that being at the zoo is giving me a lot of opportunities to learn and get even more opportunities outside of the zoo to be in a lab and do field work.

What is your favorite part of the program?

One of my favorite things is at the end of a long week at camp when all the kids are leaving, and they come up and say thank you. You can tell they had a fun week. I also like when people are genuinely interested in learning about Bye to Bags and keep asking questions. 

What are the pros and cons?

The pros are that you get to be in a place you love and make friends with all the other volunteers, keepers, and animals. There are really no cons except the time commitment. I plan on continuing with this.