Zach Hawn

Point Defiance AAZK presents…

Zoo Star Zach Hawn – July/August 2015

Zach Hawn has shown years of dedication and commitment to Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium and its affiliates, and that dedication has extended beyond his work as a volunteer and employee. He frequently spends his spare time performing tasks that he teaches others to do for conservation; it's not unusual to find him conducting surveys to monitor sea star wasting or documenting local marine life at low tide. Zach is an employee at PDZA who truly takes our mission statement to heart, and demonstrates it in a valuable and profound way.

Zach began volunteering at the Metro Park’s owned Tacoma Nature Center at the age of twelve. When he turned eighteen, an “Education Assistant” position opened up at PDZA, and his supervisors at the Tacoma Nature Center referred him to the job. He has been a dependable employee for the last four years, though his job title and tasks have changed throughout the years. Currently, he is the “Citizen Science and Evaluation Project Associate,” which he has worked since March of this year. His tasks include (but are not limited to) leading weekend programs, such as the Zoo Snooze, Career Discovery programs like Keeper for a Day, and leading citizen science groups like the Purple Martin, Great Blue Heron, Pika, and amphibian monitoring groups. In addition, he is working with Craig Standridge, assisting with the empathy evaluations that are aimed at evaluating empathy in school-age children.

Zach is someone who is very passionate about our natural ecosystem and the animals living in it. When asked what his favorite animal at PDZA is, he says that he would pick several of the aquarium animals. He especially likes the Japanese Sea Nettle, Puget Sound King Crab, and the jellies. If he could have any superpower, he would like to breathe underwater so he doesn’t have to pay for dive gear. When asked what animal he would be if he could choose, he says that he would be a tardigrade so he could live in any environment by going into cryptobiosis.

When he is not at the zoo, Zach likes to spend his time doing something that he calls “Nature Nerding” – hiking, taking photos of nature, and beach walking at low tide. When asked what he wants to learn about, he says that he wants to learn more about our native fauna. He describes himself as a perpetual log flipper – if it won’t destroy the habitat, he likes to turn over logs to search for creatures living underneath. One goal that he would like to accomplish in his life is to see every native amphibian species in Washington out in the wild.

When asked what sets him apart from others, he informed me that he has an identical twin brother, and says that at times people are confused when he says things like “we” or “us” when describing things that he has done. His twin brother, Brandon, has also been a volunteer at Tacoma Nature Center and is now an employee. If Zach could have an endless supply of food, he would have coffee and pizza. If he could visit any place in the world, he would visit Galapagos or Madagascar – somewhere exotic with lots of different kinds of animals.

Zach is the employee at PDZA that we could all learn something from. His dedication to PDZA and our native ecosystem has made him a knowledgeable and driven individual. Be sure to thank him for all he has done next time you see him!