About

Hi! My name is Courtney Hattaway Burchett and I`m originally from Lexington, Kentucky but grew up in Hendersonville, Tennessee. I consider myself a Tennessee girl and have loved growing up and getting my education in the great state of Tennessee! I have two kitties, three guinea pigs, and a chinchilla. I`m an animal lover at heart and this passion has been the driving force behind my education and future career decisions. I am currently a senior at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and I`m studying Pre-Professional Biology. After completing my bachelor’s degree, I plan on attending UT College of Veterinary Medicine to become a large animal/ Zoo veterinarian. I`ve always had an interest in animal related science fields so I try to get involved in any way I can. In 2017-2018 I was the secretary for the UTC Wildlife and Zoology Club and worked on several community projects including the cleaning of urban wetlands. The UTC Wildlife and Zoology club is working on plans to make this newly acquired land into an ecological park. Conserving this urban wetland and the native plant life and wildlife is a very important task and I`ve enjoyed working on this project. In addition to my community work, I work as a veterinary technician/assistant at a small animal and exotic clinic which also treats the animals of the Chattanooga Zoo. Aside from my job as a veterinary technician/assistant I am currently volunteering with a local wildlife group that helps to rehabilitate injured or orphaned opossums. I enjoy working with wildlife as well as learning the important nutritional needs of opossums in captivity and how they get all the nutrients they need in the wild. My work with wildlife encouraged me to pursue a four week long pre-veterinary internship in South Africa this summer. During my time with the Safari4U Veterinary program I was able to work with cattle, sheep, goats, township dogs, cats, snakes, two tortoise species, a cape vulture, as well as various antelope species while assisting in game captures. During my travel to South Africa I was able to volunteer at the SPCA in Harare, Zimbabwe while visiting family in Zimbabwe. I truly enjoy working with animals in any capacity that I can especially in the medical field.

Aside from my love for science and animals, I love to travel, read, and paint! I also love to educate people which is why I am so excited about writing this blog. In Africa I was able to assist in the education program that worked with the South Africans living in the townships. This program taught the people living in the townships how to properly handle the township dogs. The Africans living in these townships use these dogs as protection, herding, or hunting and do not see them as pets or furry family members. This translated into how they treated  and handled these dogs. When we would be performing a community project such as spay drive or external parasite dipping, the dogs would be carried to us by being dangled by a leg, dragged, or by being led on a tight rope collar. We were able to show the proper ways to carry, restrain, and pick up these dogs. It was so incredibly fulfilling to see the children watch and follow what we did! Soon the adults were also properly carrying and restraining the township dogs. This helped us do our job properly as well as prevented anyone from getting bit by these unvaccinated dogs, which would result in immediate treatment for rabies. This personal story exemplifies exactly how I feel about teaching and how it has an impact on others! The education program we took part in changed that community and generations to come will now know the proper way to handle and treat the township dogs simply because a handful of people took time to educate others. I find it very fulfilling to teach people new things  and I do believe that knowledge can change the world which is why I am maintaining this blog. I`m so thankful that my ecology lab assignment to maintain a blog gave me the final push to start my own science related blog.

Ecology carries such an importance in the world as it is the study of how abiotic and biotic organisms interact with each other in the environment. Therefore, it is paramount to study ecology to conserve the environment, conserve energy, as well as conserving resources through resource allocation. An example of the importance of the study of ecology would be improving our environment by studying invasive species and how they interact with the abiotic and biotic organisms in their environment. Kudzu is an invasive species in Chattanooga and is often called ‘The Vine That Ate the South’. This invasive species chokes out native plant life by smothering plants and hogging the sunlight. It also interferes with humans by causing damages to trains as well as covering and toppling houses, walls, powerlines and roads. Studying Kudzu is important for ecologists to figure out how it interacts with the abiotic and biotic organisms in its environment as well as how to devise ways to get rid of the invasive species and conserve the native plant life. While this is one practical example of the importance of studying ecology that is specific to Chattanooga and the south, it shows that ecology is connected to everything and everyone. This is another reason why I study ecology and why I will exemplify and explain the importance of ecology through my blog posts. My blog will be different from other blogs because I like to utilize the use of personal experiences or examples to explain ecological concepts and I believe everyday examples are easier to understand rather than textbook references. I want people who have a knowledge of ecology, have no knowledge of ecology, or people who want to expand their knowledge of ecology to read my blog posts and either learn something completely new or hear something they already know but elucidated in a different light. I firmly believe that to grow is to seek knowledge, which I want the people reading my blog posts to keep in mind. “Read. Learn. Inspire” is the tagline of my blog because I want people to read my posts, learn something new or something previously learned but restated in a novel way, and to be inspired to teach others, do their own research on the topic, or live in a more conscious way and create a better Earth.