Max Amsterdam

Hailing from Livingston, New Jersey, Max Amsterdam '26 has been a fixture at the zoo since his IIIrd form year. In his second year as a head curator, he says the zoo is what initially sold him on Millbrook over other boarding schools.

Here are his thoughts on his zoo experience:

“Freshman year when one of our Red Wolves passed away, and they were getting ready for the necropsy—I remember we were in the necropsy room, and Ms. Depew asked Sarah Egan to just take apart the uterus. She was a junior at the time, so she was already a curator, and I thought, ‘Wow, I'm going to be able to do this one day, because I'll be a junior or senior at the zoo, and they'll trust me enough to do it.’ That's when my eyes really opened to the possibilities that the zoo can offer.”

“When working with animals, your behavior means everything. The way you act around them, the way you treat them, the way you approach an animal—it all plays a role in your relationship with the animal and how well it's being raised or how well you want to handle it. So, it's never the animal's fault when something goes wrong. Never. Because at the end of the day, they are just doing what they're supposed to be doing.”

“The more time and effort you put in, the more you get out of it. I think that finding that passion early on and taking advantage of it is important, because the zoo staff are incredible. My advisor, Dr. T, he's probably one of the most important people in my life. And it's important to make those connections, make those relationships. They've all played a role in me becoming the person I am today, and it's been great. They all are a big influence on my life, and I'll remember forever.”