AURORA | The middle schooler’s essay read like the most fervent type of college application letter.

The short composition came along with additional paperwork, including a form that included sections for references, academic achievements and teacher recommendations. Taken together, the whole package had the feel of an application to a prep school. But a quick scan of the first sentence of the essay addressed directly to Thunder Ridge Middle School science teacher Pam Schmidt revealed a very different goal.

“It would be a true privilege to snake-sit one of your babies,” the student wrote.

This was just one of dozens of “snake-sitter contracts” that Schmidt reviewed at her classroom at Thunder Ridge last week. Days before the beginning of summer vacation, Schmidt finalized agreements for sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders taking possession of dozens of snakes for the next three months.

“Kids love doing this,” Schmidt said. “They have to apply to do it.”

Judging from the stack of papers that sat on her desk days before the end of the regular school year, the rigorous application process didn’t dissuade dozens of students from putting in to care for the more than 30 snakes that live in glass cages in Schmidt’s classroom for most of the year.

Across the Cherry Creek School and Aurora Public School districts, teachers and students will take care of classroom pets for the summer months. Most of those animals fall into more traditional categories than Schmidt’s classroom menagerie: gerbils, goldfish, hamsters — these critters are easy to take care of during the school year and during vacations.
That’s where Schmidt’s collection defies tradition. The serpents in this group include Burmese py Bornean blood pythons and other breeds. Phantom, an albino Burmese python, measures over 12 feet in length while Sara, a king snake, is only 3 feet long. Schmidt is quick to point out that none of the class pets are venomous.

All of the snakes require constant care and supervision and Schmidt has developed an exact and rigorous process for students who want to give them a home for the summer.

“They talk about their experiences with snakes, they rank what kind of snakes they want and there’s a brief description of what they have to do for the summer,” Schmidt said as she shuffled through the applications. “I require that their parents come in with them. If it’s someone I don’t know, I require that they get a teacher’s signature.”

It’s a process Schmidt has refined over decades.

For more than 20 years, Schmidt has made a place in her classroom for her favorite type of animal. Her love for snakes started early, despite the fact that her mother never allowed pet snakes on her childhood farm. Schmidt wrote her master’s thesis on humans’ fear of snakes; she sees the animal as a long-misunderstood and targeted creature. She sees beauty and majesty in the animal. That was part of the reason she started incorporating snakes in science lessons when she started teaching at Thunder Ridge when the school opened 22 years ago. She’s also formed “Slithers,” a science club devoted to learning about the animals, their habitat and role in the local environment.

“They’re very useful to help kids learn biology, ecology and all of those important things,” she said, adding that she uses the animals to impart a bigger lesson. “People develop a hatred for snakes. What we don’t understand, we fear. What we fear, we come to hate. By helping kids recognize that snakes are more like us and our cuddly pets than they are different, we talk directly about how prejudice is formed.”

That may seem like a stretch for some, but the students and parents who gathered in Schmidt’s classroom to take their summer charges showed no fear when in came to handling the animals.

“Being in the program has helped. I’m not afraid of snakes,” said Midori McGuire, an eighth-grader who’s taking Naner and Jack, a king snake and a bull python for the summer. Since enrolling in Schmidt’s class, she’s also bought a snake of her own. “Everyone is scared of snakes, but I can handle them and I can help people get over their fears.”

The lesson isn’t restricted to current students. Last week, Reagan Boucher, a 15-year-old enrolled at Cherokee Trail High School, reported to her former teacher’s classroom to pick up a corn snake. Boucher has been taking home snakes for the summer for years, and has professional aims of becoming a vet. 

Her mother, Colleen Boucher, tagged along. She showed no traces of a fear that used to haunt her dreams.

“I used to have nightmares about snakes, about boa constrictors choking me,” Colleen Boucher said. “As soon as she started bringing them home, the nightmares went away.”

Reach reporter Adam Goldstein at 720-449-9707 or agoldstein@aurorasentinel.com