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he COVID-19 pandemic has challenged all of us
who work at Brookfield Zoo—but especially our
education and community outreach team. In mid-
March, many of these programs were temporarily halted.
“Our recruiting was cut short,” said Sandra Ortiz-
Ortega, manager of the King Conservation Science
Scholars, a popular educational program for high school
students. “We started getting cancellations—students were
anxious about COVID-19. It would have been easy for us
to look at the situation and be intimidated. But our team
was flexible and we saw it as an opportunity to grow.”
King Scholars is one of many programs run by
our Conservation, Education & Training (CET)
Department. “The team turned on a dime and started
figuring out how to continue their work, although
they couldn’t meet face-to-face and the zoo was closed
for quite a number of months,” said Sarah Breen
Bartecki, senior vice president of Conservation Programs,
Research, and Funding. Here’s how they did it.

The outreach team (top row) has
face-to-face fun with members
of the Zoo Family via Zoom.

BROOKFIELD ZOO | WINTER 2020/21 33