Recollections and Connections Transcript

[Transcript of interview with Maya Flores, recorded as part of the Springfield-Greene County Library District's 2010 Big Read. For more information contact the Library at 417-883-5366 or visit us on the web.]

Interviewer: This recording is part of the Big Read 2010; recorded at the Library Center on March 7, 2010 by Maya Flores. Hi, Maya.

Maya Flores: Hi.

Interviewer: Tell us how old you are and where you live.

Maya Flores: I’m eleven years old and I live in Springfield, Missouri.

Interviewer: Ok. And you’re going to tell us about your school today, right? You go to sort of a special school don’t you?

Maya Flores: Hm mmm

Interviewer: Hm mmm. What’s the name of your school?

Maya Flores: WOLF.

Interviewer: WOLF? And what does that stand for?

Maya Flores: Wonders of the Ozarks Learning Facility.

Interviewer: OK, so how is WOLF different than, than school for other fifth graders?

Maya Flores: Every week we go on a field trip and what we learn in the classroom we do hands on with other people who do the things that we learn in class for a living. Just like, a couple of weeks ago we were learning about ecosystems and decaying logs and stuff like that, so we went to the Nature Center and we learned about what was in there and we dissected a log.

Interviewer: You dissected a log?

Maya Flores: Hm mmm.

Interviewer: What did you use to cut it open?

Maya Flores: Tweezers and a screwdriver.

Interviewer: Hmm. And what did you find inside that log?

Maya Flores: About five spiders, a bunch of carpenter ants, and we did find one larva but we couldn’t figure out what it was; it was too small.

Interviewer: Hm mmm. Did you have to use any other special equipment that day?

Maya Flores: A capturing container and magnifying glass.

Interviewer: So, your field trips, they’re, they have a nature base, is that right?

Maya Flores: Hm mmm.

Interviewer: What are some of the other field trips you’ve been on?

Maya Flores: We’ve been to Bois D’Arc for shooting. We’ve done .22’s, shotguns, muzzle loaders; we’ve also done bow and arrow. We’ve gone to Springfield Lake for canoeing and kayaking, Bull Creek for …

Interviewer: You done any fishing?

Maya Flores: Yeah, fishing, spelunking, …

Interviewer: And tell us what spelunking is.

Maya Flores: You go crawling in muddy, dark caves.

Interviewer: Oh, did you enjoy that?

Maya Flores: Mm hmm.

Interviewer: Mm hmm.

Maya Flores: Mm hmm, very much.

Interviewer: I think I saw a picture of you after that experience. How did you look?

Maya Flores: Muddy. Very, very dirty.

Interviewer: From head to toe, right?

Maya Flores: Yep.

Interviewer: Mm hmm. That sounds like fun. And what else have you done?

Maya Flores: We’ve done rock climbing, that was pretty painful at times,

Interviewer: Mm hmm. Have you had any funny experiences at WOLF? Anything that made you laugh?

Maya Flores: Yeah, at school we do animal handling and I had a turtle out and we, we wanted to see how fast they could run to make sure that if something got loose they knew how fast to go, and everything else, but we had one in a container and it was a red-eared slider and then a box turtle, and the red-eared slider went faster because it was in water and it had webbed feet and the box turtle kind of just waddled, kind of funny.

Interviewer: So you thought the way the turtle walked was funny?

Maya Flores: Mm hmm

Interviewer: Mm hmm. Is there anything else you’d like to share about your school experience this year?

Maya Flores: There has been an interesting time this past Friday. My teacher got engaged and it was hilarious because our second teacher, Miss Stiles, she was saying we need to go into the den and Misty, our animal trainer, is going to give us a little lesson, and so four of my other classmates were, they had cards and we were talking about, like, “if there was a baby raccoon what would the parents do, guard it, will you guard me?”

Interviewer: That was on a card?

Maya Flores: Hm mmm.

Interviewer: Ok.

Maya Flores: And then the next card was “in order to live somewhere you have to adapt? Will you adapt to me?” The third one was “in order to live somewhere there has to be a certain carrying capacity. Will you carry me?” “An eagle and an owl, they have mates for life, will you marry me?” And so the boyfriend came in with a bundle of roses, and he knelt down and he proposed and our teacher just sat up and she was, she started crying. It was funny.

Interviewer: That’s very romantic.

Maya Flores: Yeah!

Interviewer: Yeah. So there’s all kinds of rock climbing and romance, at Wonders of the Ozarks Learning Facility. OK, thank you for sharing your comments with us today, Maya. We really appreciate it.

Maya Flores: Thank you.

Recorded as part of the Springfield-Greene County Library District’s 2010 Big Read. For more information contact the library at 417-883-5366 or visit us on the web at thelibrary.org.