April 16, 2008...9:23 pm
Jane Goodall comes to Oxnard
“I’m sorry! I had to take a test,” a breathless Erica Fernandez announced as she ran into the Hueneme High School library, where a gaggle of community members, politicians and educators were waiting to hear Jane Goodall speak.
Yes, the Jane Goodall who is famous for her research on chimpanzees in Tanzania and her environmental activism was coming to Oxnard.
Jane Goodall and Hueneme senior Erica Fernandez.
Fernandez, a Hueneme senior who plans to attend Stanford University next year, was selected to participate in a week-long environmental studies program at the Jane Goodall Institute in Orlando later this month.
Last year the teen helped halt BHP Billiton’s plans to build a LIquified Natural Gas terminal off the Oxnard coast.
Fernandez — an exceptionally bright girl whom Supervisor Linda Parks characterized as “someone I know I’ll be hearing from in the future” — was all smiles Tuesday as she hung out with Goodall at the high school.
One of the oddest moments of the morning occurred when Hueneme Principal John Saunders gave Goodall a gift… that looked like it could have been a Hueneme P.E. outfit — used or new, I’m not sure. In return for coming to the school, Goodall , who normally commands a pretty penny for speaking engagements, got a giant white T-shirt with HUENEME printed across the chest and what looked to be bright red sweat pants (school colors!). (Goodall is holding the outfit in the photo above.)
Despite how she tried to hide it, the she was clearly perplexed. You could almost hear her wondering, “What am I going to do with this?”
Jane Goodall, center, with Hueneme High School students Tuesday, April 15.
Photos by John Cressy.
For more on Goodall’s visit, check out the April 17, issue of the Reporter.
1 Comment
April 23, 2008 at 4:23 am
Jane was one of my childhood heroes. How many modern day people would trek up to rainforests and submit themselves to harsh living conditions to study, protect and advocate for animals. Not many.
It’s important for young poeple to see such humble, nice, focused individuals so that they may have role models that differ from those most often portrayed on television.
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