go unnoticed. This year the students are setting their sites a little higher and are working on petitioning the President of the United States to officially recognize April 27, 2013 as Frog Awareness Day across the United States. Who knows what that might lead to! Another program that my students are getting involved in is FrogWatch (http:// www.aza.org/frogwatch/) developed by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums as their flagship citizen science program. The FrogWatch chapter in this area of SC is sponsored by the Greenville, SC Zoo. In this program the students attend a training session, they learn to recognize the calls of local frogs (they have to pass a test on the frog calls), and then they go to designated areas on multiple nights to record the calls that they hear. This is a great program that students can participate in to help gather useful data for frog conservation. At the end of the reporting season the Greenville Zoo’s FrogWatch chapter hosts a wonderful dinner with awards presented to the participants. Last year a group of Professors from The University of North Carolina Greensboro, Elon University and The University of North Carolina Pembroke received a NSF grant to educate rural living NC citizens about herpetology. They call their program HERPS which stands for Herpetology Education in Rural Places and Spaces. Their first meeting for the public was on May 12, 2012 from 10-2 at Cedarrock Park, NC. It was well attended, and Frog Awareness Day Proclamation by SC Governor Nikki Haley. I hosted an information table for Save The Frogs along with a NC student who is very much interested in As you can see, I think that it is extremely important to get the frogs. One exciting aspect of the HERPS program is the opportu- youth involved in frog conservation activities. It is easy to do, but nity for high school and middle school students to attend extended it does require a lot of planning. The rewards are everlasting, and residential programs during the summer to learn more about NC the students will be better citizens not to mention good stewards amphibians and reptiles. This type of student outreach endeavor for the environment. I give a lot of frog presentations during the should serve as a model for the rest of the states. The contact per- year, but the most important ones involve students. If you are a son for HERPS is Dr. Catherine E. Matthews: cmatthews@uncg. teacher get your students involved; if you are not a teacher then get yourself involved. Please feel free to contact me for any help that edu you might need. References 1.
G. Sellers, D. S. Lee. The American Biology Teacher, 74, 459 (2012).
FrogLog 21 (1), Number 105 (January 2013) | 43