Delaware Valley University Celebrates Special Connection to the Philadelphia Eagles

Picture by using Delaware Valley College

The alumna labored with the team’s namesake animal for a single of their major games.

Delaware Valley University (DelVal) alumna, Laura Soder ’11, has a unique link to the Philadelphia Eagles soccer staff. Soder, who majored in conservation and wildlife management at DelVal, is the display girl powering the mascot eagle you see at the stadium just before every single Eagles game. 

As the supervisor of ambassador animal engagement at Elmwood Park Zoo, Soder oversees all of the education and presentation of ambassador animals. Ambassador animals are tourists who go offsite for what Elmwood calls, “zoo on wheels.”

These are animals whose task is to be up shut with distinct crowds as opposed to men and women who would normally come to see them at the zoo. Soder leads Elmwood’s mascot teams, which contain trainers for Noah and Reggie, two animal ambassadors for the Philadelphia Eagles soccer group. She also at present trains Stella the Owl, the animal ambassador of Temple College.

Reggie, a 12-year-aged eagle, has been teaching with Soder given that 2018. Reggie had no schooling prior to initial joining the mascot staff in 2018, but he was a quickly and keen learner. By the 2019 Eagles soccer year, Reggie was already performing at teaching camps and online games. Reggie has been using around for Noah, a 22-year-aged eagle, who has a really extended background of being the Philadelphia Eagles football crew animal ambassador.

“Reggie is a quick learner and is constantly looking for new things to do, which can be incredibly exciting when it comes to training,” discussed Soder. “He’s a large fan of night time video games and random situations.” 

As 1 of the key handlers, Soder potential customers the workforce in making certain that all tips for animal protection and handler protection are remaining adopted. By way of certain allowing, the handlers have to also have an academic concentration. Because eagles had been practically extinct 50 decades in the past, handlers advise the crowd of their conservation accomplishment tale. Wildlife education is something Soder never considered of doing, but her passion for it now is fueled by instructing others about these resilient animals. 

“It’s unbelievable that we have these an remarkable species that is built a comeback and has a tie to our neighborhood soccer staff,” stated Soder. 

Other ambassador animals that Soder oversees consist of modest mammals like chinchillas, ferrets, hedgehogs, skunks, opossums, reptiles, snakes, turtles, various forms of lizards, and extra. She trains the team to make sure that they can handle these animals appropriately, and she functions on overseeing the general animal education for the courses.

Soder points out that her crew has been operating challenging to transfer in direction of schooling their animals to do behaviors that show their diversifications, an exciting sight for young children especially. 

“Our purpose is to let the animals talk for themselves as a great deal as we can, and so instead than me stand up there and say ‘this animal can fly,’ we want the animal to demonstrate you that it can fly!”

Her preferred section of the career? The magic and pleasure. 

“When you do the job with children, they get fired up about the same factors that I can get enthusiastic about, and you can variety of latch onto that and then go on the discussion,” said Soder. “You get to see their faces light-weight up when they locate a little something neat.” 

The university is a pointed out leader in mixing classroom training with hands-on expertise. Whilst searching for the ideal university, Soder was interested in all of the specialized niche opportunities DelVal’s distinctive tutorial applications provide. She enjoyed her animal conduct lessons, the hands-on finding out factor of her education and learning, and the serious-globe connections.

Wildlife conservation, education and learning, and animal handling had been crucial experiences after using internships in her sophomore and junior years. Her internship knowledge led her to finding out just how much she enjoyed sharing and teaching about matters that she cherished. She is appreciative of DelVal’s tiny class measurements and campus community connections that led her to the position she has nowadays. 

The abilities she sees as the most important in her existing sector are overall flexibility, interest to depth, willingness to master, and honesty. She mentions that a ton of the each day duties in becoming an animal coach are learnable, but it can take a person who is eager and can converse efficiently about their possess comfort and ease level.

Browse additional about the link involving the staff and the university at Delaware Valley University.