2025 AZA Conference: Animal Welfare, Research Projects—and Rollercoasters!
As the only high school in the U.S. with an Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA)-accredited zoo (the Trevor-Lovejoy Zoo), Millbrook gives students the unique opportunity to make a real impact on global conservation efforts. Students (known as zooies) are fully involved in caring for the animals, and they even participate in veterinary procedures and scientific research. And, once a year, some of the head curators get to travel with the zoo staff to the AZA Conference, where they learn about the latest in conservation and network with zoo-industry professionals.
This year the AZA held the conference in Tamp Bay, Florida. So, Max Amsterdam ’26, Ingrid Schmitt ’26, William Grahling ’26, and Hector Stephenson ’26—accompanied by four members of the Trevor-Lovejoy Zoo staff—headed down to the Sunshine State.
The conference took place at three different venues: The Florida Aquarium, Busch Gardens, and Zoo Tampa. In addition to touring the venues, the group attended informational sessions, gathering new knowledge to use at Millbrook. “One of the highlights was attending workshops on animal enrichment and conservation projects,” Max Amsterdam said. “It gave us new ideas that we can bring back and apply here at our own zoo program.” Ingrid Schmitt said a session about saving sharks from extinction impacted her. “I grew up in the Bahamas at an institution where they had a research facility, and so I was always exposed to information like that,” she explained. “This reignited my love for marine biology.”
Amsterdam and Schmitt both noted that being the only high schoolers at the conference deepened their appreciation for the one-of-a-kind experience they have at Millbrook. They saw the stark contrast between their work at the Trevor-Lovejoy Zoo and the limited ways other organizations involve high schoolers. Amsterdam even shared that the curators and zoo staff on the trip discussed the possibility of presenting their own session at the conference in the future.
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Attending the AZA conference also gives our zooies the chance to network. For instance, they met podcaster Jon Rossi. An advocate for endangered and vulnerable animals like red pandas and binturongs—both residents of the Trevor-Lovejoy Zoo—Rossi interviewed our zoo curators for an episode of his Rossifari Podcast. The students also networked at an academic poster session. Schmitt and Amsterdam are both in Independent Science Research (ISR) class, and they were able to talk to college students doing research like their own. Schmitt is studying seasonal affective disorder in wallabies at the zoo, and she connected with an academic who had been researching wallabies in Australia. The two shared contact information, and Schmitt hopes to include the researcher as an expert source in her final project. Likewise, Amsterdam opened lines of communication with poster presenters willing to help with his ISR research.
The Millbrook crew worked hard networking and soaking up the latest zoo-industry information, but they stopped for a bit of fun, too. As part of their AZA experience, they were able to spend several hours in the amusement park side of Busch Gardens, taking advantage of free access to all the rides. They also enjoyed a night of bowling and bar food, and a zooie reunion of sorts, as alumni Hannah (Petri) Phillips ’97, Mac Grosscup ’19, and Jamie Katis ’25 were in town for the conference. “It was great to meet with them and learn about their experiences with Millbrook and how that helped them get their jobs in the zoo world,” Amsterdam said.
Experiences like the annual AZA Conference trip are the norm at Millbrook. At the zoo and in our other Community Service offerings, students thrive in daily leadership roles that teach real-world responsibility. From rubbing elbows with AZA bigwigs to collecting recycling around campus, Millbrook students are always doing their part to make the world a better place.
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