Not Pictured: Donny Vanderholm
Madison Long
Staff Writer
Zoo Idaho was first established in 1932 at a local trailer with only two exhibits: Josephine the female monkey, and Pete the raccoon. Now, the park houses numerous orphaned or injured indigenous species that would have died in the wild. The span of 25 acres includes 98 barnyard animals, bears, bison, birds of prey, fowl, small reptiles, wild cats, and many more.
In collaboration with the Honors Program and the College of Business, the students involved in the 2023 Collaborative Creativity Class were given the opportunity to meet the people behind Zoo Idaho, take a tour, and experience the stories of the animals in person. From there, they compiled their photos to self-publish “Zoo Idaho: Where Every Animal Has a Story.” The nine-chapter book is currently available for purchase on Amazon and covers the history of the organization, the different animal types featured, and the future of Zoo Idaho.
Dr. Alex Bolinger, ICCU Professor of Management in the College of Business, has taught the class intermittently for the last eight years and published a collection of six books with his students: “Garrett Frieghtlines,” “Idaho State University,” “Pocatello in Print: From the Archives of the Idaho State Journal,” “Idaho in World War ll” and “Hidden Gems: Stories of the Idaho Museum of Natural History.”
“The cool thing about this class is that the students wrote most of the book,” said Bolinger. “But they did allow me to write the introduction and a chapter in the book. I really like this class because the project is student-driven.”
The one-semester class focuses directly on promoting creativity and team collaboration, taking inspiration from former Pixar President Ed Catmull’s book, “Creativity, Inc.” Catmull’s book focuses on creating an environment that promotes creativity, talking about overcoming obstacles and providing peers with honest and helpful feedback.
After reading chapters in the book and discussing them, the class brainstorms what type of book they want to write and what individual skills, passions, and knowledge they bring to the table.
One student, Lauren Jager, a junior studying Chemistry and a minor in Psychology, worked with classmate Savanah Call to write the history chapter. She spent her time digging through newspaper clippings and piecing together the historical timeline of Zoo Idaho, learning about the zoo’s evolution into a staple of Pocatello.
Third-year student Jordan Mayo, who is currently double-majoring in Health Sciences with an Occupational Therapy emphasis and Psychology, was assigned to write about some of the zoo’s miscellaneous animals, including the raccoons, Buford the porcupine, and Ms. Todd the badger. Along with her chapter partner Lindi Dice, Mayo wrote a few haikus and short poems to add to the story at the start of each chapter!
Besides the book content, students were also in charge of designing the art for the front and back covers of the book.
Chapter 1, the “Introduction,” opens with a short poem, “And so it begins:/this journey of friends:/an unlikely crew,/all of a different major or two -/setting off to this zoo of native kin.” And so our students set off to tell the history and narratives behind an iconic Pocatello spot, helping to create an immersive experience for the community.