Madeleine in the field studying box turtle personality.

I am a senior at WashU and majoring in Animal Behavior and Evolution. My favorite thing I am involved in at WashU is being part of the varsity track team. I have been pole vaulting since I was in seventh grade, and I absolutely love it because you get to fly. Whenever we have practice outside I often get distracted by people walking their dogs on campus because I absolutely love all animals. In order to fill the animal void in my life while I'm at school and away from my pets, I volunteer with the St. Louis County Pet Adoption Center to help train dogs available for adoption how to sit and walk well on a leash. It's a very rewarding experience to work with each dog individual and get to know them on a personal level. Also, it helps me learn a lot about dog body language, behavior, and personality. I always get so excited when a dog I've been working with gets adopted or I am able to demonstrate how well they behave to potential adopters. I will be working on pages about butterflies and moths this semester, and I hope to contribute to other pages about conservation and endangered species to inspire people to help reverse some of the detrimental effects that modernization has had on the planet.