On Thursday, January 19, Upper School students enjoyed an optional hour-long assembly period to accommodate the Wildlife assembly.

While some advisories that did not attend the assembly took advantage of the opportunity to cross the street and eat breakfast at a local restaurant or spend time together inside their room, others filed into the gym to witness wild animals such as a porcupine or gray fox.

Wildlife associates, who introduced themselves as Jen, Erin, and Michelle, engaged the crowd with their knowledge on animals and anecdotes. They introduced one animal at a time, starting with the armadillo, named Bug, and ending with the porcupine, Mo. For each animal, the speaker described the animal’s lifestyle, story behind how they arrived at the wildlife center, and special characteristics of the animal.

“Their lectures about the animals were insightful,” Shreyas Parthasarathy (10) said.

Some students found a favorite animal amongst those presented.

“I liked the fox,” Callie Ding (10) remarked.

The fox, Tucson, had a story that sparked the sympathy of many in the audience. Tucson and his brother Tahoe were abandoned as babies when their mother attempted to teach them to hunt for food.

Freshman Harry Xu preferred the porcupine, while junior Simar Mangat liked the serval, a large, shy cat often confused with a baby cheetah.

After hearing the remarks of the audience in the assembly, some students who did not attend wished they had indeed gone.

“Although I did not go the wildlife assembly I really wish I did because in the period after, Mr. Irvine was showing us pictures of where you could buy the [serval] they showed,” Sahithya Prakash (10) said.

The wildlife assembly is the first of several “surprise assemblies” alluded to by the ASB student government in the beginning of the year.