After the club designed a logo (you can see the process here), a generous benefactor* gifted all the members with t-shirts. But the philanthropy didn’t stop there—our patron made sure the club’s mentors could strut around in the finest SLAC clubwear too.

Around the time the girls received their t-shirts, they were invited to a lecture at UTA about the state of Texas turtles, presented by Carl Franklin—the man who set us off on our original adventure by teaching us the basics turtle anatomy and care. This special occasion was the perfect opportunity to for the girls to present t-shirts to many of the people so important to them.

They got all gussied up and arrived at the university early to give their mentors thank you cards and the shirts.

We think Viviana was excited. Fun fact: Around this same time, one of the SLAC-kers had the word guru on her list of vocabulary words to study. When asked to use it in a sentence she immediately said, “Viviana is our turtle guru.”

In this image, you can see a felt “Craker” pin on the shirt of one of the girls. They made the pins themselves because they wanted Craker to attend the lecture too.

They also wanted front row seats.

The girls presented t-shirts to Brad and Katie Hulka, the team who saved Craker’s life.

Katie might’ve cried.

Wildlife rescue is difficult. These people spend their time, resources, and hard-earned knowledge helping animals that don’t always make it. If the animal does live, then it’s released back into its natural home (like Craker was released back into our lake)—never to be heard from again. Thanks to the combination of Craker’s conspicuous shell damage and our small body of water, it’s easy to spot and identify her. SLAC-kers are eager to document each sighting so we can send pictures of the turtle to Team Hulka. As you might imagine, those emails are well-received.

Carl took the time to talk to the girls before his presentation.

 

Then he put the shirt on over his button-down and wore it during his lecture.

How cool is that?!

 

If the scientific presentation was a cake, then the girls thought the fund-raising auction was the icing on top.

The kiddos loved their “field trip” and they look forward to more adventures at UTA.

If you’re so inclined, please support the Dallas Fort Worth Herpetological Society. They sponsored Carl’s report.

Carl’s books can be found here.

 

*We love your kind and generous heart, Babs. Thank you so much!