By Naturalist Carlos Tellez

During the summer, naturalists have time to plan some of their own activities, so I often talked about fossils. It was really neat because I got to show off my personal fossil collection. I have collected many fossils over the years, and the kids were interested in learning a little bit more about them. I would let the kids pass around the different fossils and minerals (such as calcite) that make the fossil.

One day, I was showing off my favorite fossil, a trilobite, to a group of kids. This trilobite has two pieces that come apart. I gave two pieces to the kids, but once it came back to me, there was only one piece. I WAS SO SAD - I thought I had lost my favorite trilobite piece! We spent ten minutes trying to figure out who had the piece last and how it had disappeared. We searched that area from top to bottom until we found it. It was an emotional rollercoaster, but at the end of the day, one of my funniest, most memorable moments during summer camp.

I was inspired by a student to draw a comic to illustrate this story. I would ask students to write in their journals, and one boy would always doodle on the side of his worksheets. I asked him to hold off on doodling and work on the assignment. As I was talking with him, he got more into his doodle and was hiding it from me. So, I told him to show me the drawing. He had drawn a picture of me and I thought it was hilarious. This lead to my idea for the comic strip.