Summer zoo camp counselor Ethan Zavala, 18, began working with the summer camp as a “volunteen,” a teenage volunteer with limited duties, during his ninth-grade year in high school. Last year, he got hired as a counselor for the summer camps, he said.
The sold-out summer zoo camp receives a new group of children every week through Aug. 19. There are three age ranges defined as explorers, or children 3-4, trailblazers, or children 5-8, and rangers from 9-10 years old.
A Fort Worth Zoo camper feeds a giraffe on July 14. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
Summer zoo campters look at an alligator on July 14. The counselors help a new group of children every week until Aug. 19. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
Fort Worth Zoo campers play in a waterfall on July 14. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
Summer Zoo campers play in the Safari Splash on July 14. The Summer Zoo Camp is sold out for summer 2022. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
Fort Worth Zoo camp counselor Ethan Zavala, 18, supervises a group of children as they play in the Safari Splash section on July 14. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
Campers make their way to an exhibit at the Fort Worth Zoo on July 14. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
A Summer Zoo Camp counselor watches children as they look at tortoises on July 14. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
Counselors lead summer zoo camp children. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
Fort Worth Zoo campers look into an exhibit on July 14. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report)
The most children Zavala has had in a group was 38, but the numbers range from 30 to 38 week to week, he said.
“It’s fun, but getting a new group of kids every week, you’ve got to help them adjust to us,” Zavala said.
Cristian ArguetaSoto is the community engagement journalist at the Fort Worth Report. Contact him by email or via Twitter. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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