As the students of Texas High traverse the area by the pond, some stop and turn their attention to the honking of the familiar animals that guard the school.
After two years of pond renovation, the geese of THS have fully settled into their home and made babies.
“I think they’re very cute and adorable and fluffy,” sophomore Jaylah Shephard said. “I like how they like to follow around their mama, and they’re all in a line, waddl[ing] behind their mom.”
These geese allow students to reconnect with nature after being confined to desks all day. Seeing new life thrive in their natural habitat can help everyone stay grounded, allowing their minds a break.
“I think it’s a perfect idea for people to connect more with nature,” junior Rachel Dinklage said. “If [students] are going to the CTE building or the Math and Science building, and they cross outside, they’re always walking past them in some sort of way.”
Although it benefits students to be surrounded by nature often, a few considerations must be acknowledged in order for the students and geese to exist in harmony. Students and staff learned that respect is mutually desired and beneficial.
“If you come at some of us in an angry or threatening way, then we might become angry or threatening,” head principal Ben Renner said. “It’s the same way with the geese. I walk in the middle of them all the time, but [if] I stay calm, they stay calm.”
Geese maintain a territorial reputation, especially over their goslings. If someone were to approach a nest, the geese may hiss and spread their wings to show that someone crossed their territory. This helps remind students to be respectful of others’ boundaries, especially in wildlife.
“I was exiting CTE one, and all of a sudden I hear[d] this hissing noise. I turn[ed] around and the geese [were] flying, wings spread, coming at me [with] full force,” junior Mariel Galvan said. “I didn’t see any babies or anything, but I know that I had to pass through where the nest is.”
The way the goslings grow up mirrors the way freshmen come onto campus and learn to grow in their surroundings.
“You watch how quickly [the geese] grow, and they’re off on their own, kind of like the freshman class,” Renner said. “Those eighth graders will come in as freshmen, and then before you know it, they’ll be walking across the stage at graduation, just like those geese flying off.”
