I'm writing this so my daughter can go, this is her story.

Maureen is a 17 year old high school student at a Zoological magnet where she spends her lunch time watching Planet Earth with her friends. Her passion in life is animals, specifically exotic, and likes to share her passion with everyone she meets. Growing up in Los Angeles has limited her interactions with exotics to mostly captive animals. A trip to Antarctica would be the ultimate experience to interact with wild animals. Maureen wants to be an orca trainer and has her life completely calculated to reach that goal which goes as follows: Intern with the California Wildlife Center's Marine Mammal Stranding team, attend Moorpark College and get her associates degree in Exotic Animal Training and Management, transfer to the University of San Diego and major in Marine Science and minor in Psychology, intern with the Navy's Marine Mammal Program, work as an educator at SeaWorld San Diego for two years (while still in school), and then apply for a job as a trainer. In the past she has volunteered at the LA Zoo where she tutored and helped Spanish-only speaking middle schoolers give animal presentations in English. Also, she volunteered walking dogs at Boxer Rescue LA. Winning a trip to Antarctica with her idol, Julie Scardina, would not only further her interest in animals and conserving the world we live in, but also encourage her to educate and inspire more people to take action and care for wildlife and their habitat.

The photo is a picture of my wife and I with our three daughters interacting with Corky in the background.