Juan Rodriguez:
Hello, I'm Juan Rodriguez. I am the curator for Carnivores of Asia and South America here at the Smithsonian's Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Virginia. So, there are a few things that I really enjoy about this job and that keeps me motivated. Some of the things that really come to mind, I say the first one would be just being in an environment where we're at the cutting edge in pioneering a really great innovative research and animal husbandry techniques. We've been involved with so many different things, such as being able to save species from extinctions, such as the Black-footed ferret, the scimitar-horned oryx, just to name a few. The other really cool thing about this job is to not only to impart that to a younger generation and educating our public, but also to be able to pass that torch onto a new generation of conservationists and environmentalists to be able to continue the research that we've started here.
One of the major questions that a lot of folks ask me, especially young, young students is how did I get into this field? And my answer to them is by accident. You know, when I grew up in the DC metropolitan area, I would visit the National Zoo, but never in my wildest dreams would Iever think that I would actually be an employee at the National Zoo.
First thing was, I love working with animals. So I started off my profession working as a veterinary technician at a local veterinary hospital. And while I was there, one of my colleagues, actually overheard her talking about volunteering at the National Zoo. So I found out about how to do that. Hey, let me give it a shot. And I didn't get the position that I wanted, but there was an opening at the Cheetah Conservation Station. And I said, hey, you know, let's give this a shot. Let's see what happens. And then I lucked out and then that temporary position then became a full-time position, and then one year turned into two and then five and a half years later, I was vested into the system.
Dealing with failure. You know, In life, we're all going to experience challenges and we're going to have instances of where we are going to fail what we're doing. It's important thing is to learn from it. Back then, believe it or not, I just didn't like sciences. One of my advisors back then actually said, "Hey, Juan, didn't seem like this science thing is for you. I think you should just kind of give it up and do something else you might be more passionate about." Just me personally, I just felt like, no, I love working with animals. I love the research. I have to find a way to really make this work. So having the chance to volunteer at the National Zoo was the remedy to that particular failure or that particular hurdle that I had and being able to find other individuals that looked like me as well that worked in the profession.
I was fortunate that I had a mentor that actually helped me through that process and helped me to really appreciate and be able to apply what I learned in school in biology and math and chemistry, and be able to see how those things apply to my actual day to day work environment in the zoo field.
The advice I have for students that are contemplating going to the sciences and in particular, those students that perhaps feel like, you know what, science may just not be my thing, or I'm kind of afraid of it. I kind of shy away from it. This is a great time for you to really explore and get out of your comfort zone and try out a particular internship or a volunteer program that perhaps you may normally think that this might be something that you may not be comfortable in, or you may not excel in, but try it out, try the sciences, look into the Smithsonian in particular, see what internships are out there. The Smithsonian has so many different museums and so many departments in terms of STEM and STEAM career paths that you can go into.
So I always tell students, don't be like a giant panda. Giant pandas are specialists. They specialize in eating only bamboo. So unfortunately in reality, if they lose these bamboo forests, then they have no food. So don't be like a giant panda, that when you do go on your career path, you have sort of different plan. You got a plan A, plan B and a plan C.
So I encourage you all out there if you are interested in the sciences, you all are our next generation. We are in the science fields currently, but we haven't discovered everything. So we all have to work together and create a better place that we live in, preserve, conserve, learn and make sure that we're passing on the torch to a younger generation, and that we make this planet better for our future generations than they are today.
