Crowds packed the Henry Doorly Zoo Saturday for a Back To School Bash. Kids said the zoo is the perfect place to spend their last few days of summer.
“My summer’s been pretty great. We went camping, and I went up to my Grandma’s a lot,” reminisced Koda Neemann, who is going into 7th grade this year.
The kids agree the zoo is the place to be.
“There’s crocodiles, there’s a bug exhibit with spiders, there’s the jungle. You can go over there and see giraffes. And there’s touching tanks,” said Neemann.
“I like the new upgrades that they did for their elephant habitat. There’s even stuff that we didn’t know about that was going to be here today so that was nice,” explained Destiny Brown, going into 5th grade.
Cheer squads chanted, “Come on, all you zoo fans, let me see you clap your hands!”
Drumlines drummed.
All from local high schools and colleges who were out helping the kids get motivated for the new year.
“It was like the perfect opportunity to come and spread school spirit right before the year starts,” said Moriah Dilley, Cheer Captain at Doane University.
The Herd from UNO performed in front of the Desert Dome.
“Our job is kinda to get people excited. We try to get people dancing. We had some great dancers today,” said Scott Shinbara, Percussion Studies Coordinator at UNO.
Destiny and her sister and cousins really got the crowds excited with an impromptu gymnastics show in front of the drummers.
“I didn’t really have a plan,” said 8-year-old Ryleigh Heinsohn about her impressive flips and cartwheels.
“We love that stuff because then it gets everyone else excited about what we do,” said Shinbara.
“Study hard and have fun because school can be a really fun experience if you put the work in,” encouraged Dilley.
The zoo’s Back To School Bash is also going on Sunday from 9-5. All the activities are free with zoo admission.
