Wildlife Encounters of NSA Faculty
By Aaron E.
Silly Black Bear by Getty Images (Katherine Davis) Created in Canva
It is time for another wildlife adventure! Last year, I highlighted the wildlife encounters of the students of NSA. But, now it is time for the wildlife encounters of NSA’s faculty to shine. So, prepare yourselves to embark on an adventure around the world to visit the places where NSA’s faculty had some of their most notable wildlife encounters.
Our travels begin in the country of Indonesia with Mrs. Laura Schubert. In Mrs. Schubert’s neighborhood in Indonesia, monkeys are a common sight. This has led to multiple unique encounters for Mrs. Schubert. The first encounter occurred when, one day, her children came inside talking about how marshmallows were raining down from above. Mrs. Schubert was initially skeptical, thinking her children were imagining the strange situation. But, when her children insisted it was true, she went outside to see for herself. Mrs. Schubert explained, “I went out to the front yard, and sure enough a monkey was on the roof eating a bag of marshmallows that he had snatched from my kitchen.” This monkey happened to be a very messy eater, dropping marshmallows off of the roof as it tried to eat them. This naughty monkey’s hunger for marshmallows was the cause of the marshmallow rain phenomenon at Mrs. Schubert's house that day.
Our stay in Indonesia with Mrs. Schubert also includes the tale of the day that she heard a noisy racket upstairs in her house. She remembered that there was an exterior door open upstairs, so she suspected that a monkey had snuck into the house. She went upstairs, broom in hand, to discover that there was indeed a monkey ransacking her son's bedroom. After she chased the monkey out of the house with her broom, she surveyed the damage. Thankfully, the damage from this sneaky monkey’s playtime was limited to a bite-sized chunk out of Mrs. Schubert's son’s algebra textbook. Mrs. Schubert’s assessment of the situation was this: “Teachers probably don't believe you if ‘your dog ate your homework.’ How do you think your teacher will accept, ‘a monkey ate my textbook?’”
Next, let us travel across the Pacific Ocean to visit the Grand Canyon in the southwestern United States, where Mrs. Beirne had an eventful encounter with an elk while visiting the national park with her family. When Mrs. Beirne and her family spotted a large elk, one of her sons wanted to take a picture with it. They did the right thing and kept their distance from the elk as they got set up to take their photo with it. However, the elk seemed to have other plans and began walking towards Mrs. Beirne and her family. After Mrs. Beirne finished taking the photo, she realized that the elk was looking at her hand because she was holding a half-eaten apple. Mrs. Beirne said, “We quickly moved away and into a ranger station, where I was able to throw away the apple.” Mrs. Beirne and her family went home safely with a great picture and fun memories.
Our next stop is Arkansas, the state that was once home to Mrs. Linda Anderson, who had a dangerous wildlife encounter of her own when trying to iron some clothes. As she opened her ironing board, a large snake fell out and curled up on the floor in an attack position. Mrs. Anderson climbed on top of a nearby cabinet to get out of striking distance of the snake, which proceeded to slither under the refrigerator. Mrs. Anderson’s husband eventually managed to push the snake out of hiding with a yardstick and get it outside. Nonetheless, Mrs. Anderson emphasized, “I think I spent the night right on top of that cabinet, and I've never ironed another piece of clothing!!”
Next, we travel much further north on the North American continent and cross the Canadian border to visit the home of Ms. Kandi Permann in Alberta, Canada. During the spring of 2022, Ms. Permann noticed that her backyard was being frequented by a pair of robins whom she named Buttercup and Westley. These two robins built a nest on top of one of the lights on Ms. Permann's deck. As more time passed, the robins became more aggressive: whenever Ms. Permann tried to go into her backyard, the birds would dive at her head. Ms. Permann said, “I decided that there must be eggs in the nest, so I put on a hat and risked their wrath to get a photo.” After venturing out to get her pictures, Ms. Permann realized that she was right, there were eggs in the robins’ nest. After a while longer, Ms. Permann realized that the eggs had hatched, as she could see four small heads poking out of the nest. “By stealthily hiding in the garage with the door open facing the nest, I was able to get some clear photos of the babies, who I named Dorothy, Rose, Blanche, and Sophia,” explained Ms. Permann. Within a few days, both the parents and the babies had flown away and Ms. Permann was able to use her deck in peace.
Next up, let us travel back across the border into the northern United States to visit a camp that Mr. Michael Burgett helped operate on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota. One day, Mr. Burgett went with his team to check what areas of the camp might need repairs in preparation for the upcoming camp season. As they neared the camp, they found that their way was blocked by a herd of bison that had escaped their fenced-in enclosure on a property nearby. Once the team's vehicle slowly moved through the herd, they discovered that the bison had already visited the camp. On the outdoor volleyball court, the bison had snapped a pressure-treated six-by-six post in half by using it as a scratching post. That gave Mr. Burgett and his team a reminder of just how powerful these animals are. Mr. Burgett said, “At that point we decided it would be a better idea to finish checking for repairs on a different day and slowly retraced our route out to the main road.”
Our final stop is also in the northern United States, specifically in Porcupine Mountain State Park in Michigan. It was here that the Navigator’s faculty advisor, Mrs. April Meyer, and her husband had an encounter of their own with another large, dangerous animal. While camping in the park, Mrs. Meyer was washing some dishes in a stream when she sensed movement. She looked up to see a black bear coming right toward her. She called for her husband, who was able to scare the bear off by banging pans together and yelling. Mrs. Meyer and her husband made sure to store their food up high out of reach of the bear that night. However, some of their neighboring campers did not put their food in a safe place, and the bear consumed their food as a late-night snack. Mrs. Meyer recounted the following as being the comedic end to their stay in the park: “As we went to leave the park, we reported the incident to the rangers. A woman overheard us talking and asked the rangers, ‘How many bears do you keep in this park?’ We couldn't help but laugh at her question.”
I hope you enjoyed this tour around the world visiting the locations of some of the most notable wildlife encounters of NSA’s faculty. I would like to express my gratitude for all the wildlife encounter stories shared with me for this article. If you enjoyed reading this article, you might also enjoy reading the student edition of this article from last year, which can be found here.
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Aaron E. is a high school student from the northeast coast of the USA. This is his third year at NorthStar Academy and his second year on the Navigator staff. He is excited to serve as the Navigator's PR Coordinator again this year. Aaron enjoys spending time in nature with family and friends and exploring it from the water. He loves most anything related to science, technology, nature, and engineering. Some of his hobbies are freshwater fishing, reading, and digital 3D modeling.