ZooCrew Helps Teens Sample Conservation Careers

How do kids become conservationists?

The Tennessee Valley Authority and Zoo Knoxville have an answer – ZooCrew, a semester-long program that connects teens in east Tennessee with real-world conservation, exciting them about future careers.

And by all accounts, it's working.

On a recent spring day, 10 teens hiked along the banks of the French Broad River at Seven Islands State Birding Park, where they checked bird nest boxes with TVA natural resources policy and project management specialist Holly Hoyle and state park ranger Clare Dattilo.

Peeking inside one box, a boy yelped as a wasp darted out.

“Empty,” he called to a girl, who nodded, tapping the information into her phone’s NestWatch app.

“(The goal is) expanding horizons in thinking about a career in the natural sciences,” Catherine West, TVA senior program manager in environmental business operations, said.

West organizes all the ZooCrew logistics, and her hard work shows.

“We have an incredible lineup of field outings,” Hoyle said.

Seven Islands State Birding Park Ranger Clare Dattilo shows students the NestWatch app while Kylie Helms enters data.

Beyond the Classroom

ZooCrew began in 2023 when TVA donated funds to Zoo Knoxville, making the teen educational concept a reality.

Now finishing up its third semester, the ZooCrew program has taken these teens all over.

“They’ve had a diverse set of experiences,” West said. “Everything from the belly of Douglas Dam to the wildflower trails at Norris to the hatchery at Conservation Fisheries. They saw a prescribed fire last fall.”

The kids also stretched a seine net across a creek and cared for animals at the zoo.

On this outing at Seven Islands, they trekked about 3 miles to check 25 of the 75 nest boxes.

Nest boxes are birdhouses bolted to poles planted throughout the park. Most poles have a protective metal skirt – a predator guard – and one side that swings open to allow a quick nest check.

Kylie Helms, a junior who has taken part in all the ZooCrew semesters and who volunteers at Seven Islands, opened the NestWatch app on her phone, prompting the rest of the crew to crowd in close.

Dattilo swung the nest box door open to reveal wisps of grass – but no birds or eggs, yet.

“We record what species of bird it is, if there are eggs and how many young there are, the first egg-laid date, and nest status,” Dattilo said. “The data we’re collecting today helps us know if we need management.”

She pulled a scraper blade out of her pocket. “I brought this in case we need to remove an old nest or pests like wasps.”

She does much of that management herself – fixing boxes, installing snake guards, removing wasp nests and more.

Both Dattilo’s and Hoyle’s careers have included long days in the field, as do those of many TVA scientists in the program.

“We've tried to be very deliberate in giving (ZooCrew students) a well-rounded view of what TVA does, who TVA works with, what TVA is,” West said. “We don't want to sugarcoat (it). This is hard work.”

Hard, but captivating to this team of teens, nonetheless.

“My favorite part is getting out here,” Margaret Sparks said. “We did monarch (butterfly) tagging and that was really fun. We did Sturgeonfest. Anything with scales captures my interest.”

“I can see myself in the field every day,” Reese Harvey said. “That’s why I love this.”

ZooCrew students Mariam Ali and Ian Doud scan the treetops to identify birds at Seven Islands State Birding Park.

Conservation Careers

As the crew hiked on, birds trilled from distant treetops.

“Does anyone have the Merlin app?” Dattilo asked. She opened the app and let it listen to a bird singing to the overcast sky.

“See, it narrowed (the species) down to size and color based on the songs and calls it detected,” she said. “This Eastern towhee song sounds like, ‘Drink your teeeeeeea.’”

The kids focused their binoculars on the treetop singer, then continued to pepper Dattilo and Hoyle with career questions.

“I have a degrees in biology and wildlife,” Hoyle said. In her 19 years at TVA, she’s crafted policy to help endangered bats, worked to increase pollinator habitat on power line rights of way and more.

“(Conservation at TVA is) includes land management, endangered species protection, education, getting students out, understanding the value of protecting natural resources, and more,” Hoyle said.

Dattilo explained how the field of science changed since she was a student – there are now 15 or more specializations just within biology.

The ZooCrew program is exposing students to "senior-level scientists who are extremely experienced and are able to explain their craft in a way that gets kids excited,” West said.

It's making the right connections.

“The ZooCrew lets me view all my passions through a more professional lens,” crew member David Galeotti said.

“There are a lot of different pathways people can take,” Kylie said. “I like jellyfish and corals. But the more I learn about things, the more interested I get.”

David Galeotti and other ZooCrew students train their binoculars on a distant singing bird.

‘The Right Thing’

By the morning’s end, the ZooCrew teens had journeyed through grasslands, beside ponds alive with frog songs and over bridges spanning the French Broad River.

It was a tad early in the season for nests, but the crew shooed out wasps to ready the boxes for birds.

“What you’re doing right now – volunteering and working, internships – you’re doing the right thing,” Dattilo said. “All that will help you in the future.”

David, a junior interested in cultural anthropology, was hooked.

“This has given me a better idea of what a career in these fields looks like,” he said.

His favorite day so far? He looked thoughtful, then smiled. “Maybe this one.”

Photo Gallery

ZooCrew students Emily Abel and Reese Harvey spot birds in different habitats at Seven Islands State Birding Park in East Tennessee.

Margaret Sparks checks a nest box and finds it empty. Monitoring starts in early spring to catch the first dates that birds build.

Holly Hoyle, TVA natural resources policy and project management specialist, has worked with birds throughout her career and shared her expertise with ZooCrew students.

ZooCrew students take every opportunity to learn more about the birds they hear, and Seven Islands State Park Ranger Clare Dattilo advises them in the background.

Emily Abel carefully swings open the front of a nest box.

ZooCrew students see a range of career options in conservation, including this day on a prescribed burn with TVA fire crews.

ZooCrew students have the chance to assess stream health, such as on this day with TVA aquatic zoologist Dave Matthews and TVA chief operating officer Don Moul.

PHOTO AT TOP OF PAGE: Emily Abel and Sam Rucker watch for birds along the French Broad River at Seven Islands State Birding Park.

Outdoor Adventures

Beyond ZooCrew, TVA participates in many other educational and partner programs that connect youth to natural resources and conservation experiences. Some of these include: 

• Kids in the Creek
• Sturgeonfest
• ScienceKids
• BioBlitz, with Discover Life in America
• Tennessee Aquarium’s sturgeon exhibit
• Snorkel Trails in western North Carolina
• Wildflower walks
• Bassmaster Classic
• The World’s Biggest Fish Fry