Going Batty: Science Program Featuring Live Bats Set for Wednesday

Author and bat expert Leslie Sturges, with "furry bats from Bat World," will be the guest speaker at the event, scheduled from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the school. 

Sturges has been a wildlife enthusiast all her life. One of her earliest memories is feeding grass stems to a nestful of almost-weaned meadow mice she discovered in her backyard. She housed and bred snakes, turtles, lizards, frogs, and insects before finally becoming a zookeeper with the Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park.

She left the zoo to join Montgomery County Parks as a park naturalist. In 2001, Leslie founded Bat World NOVA, a satellite rescue center of Bat World Sanctuary, so that she could pursue a lifelong love of bats.

Since then she has cared for over 800 bats at her facility and has maintained a colony of bats that visit schools and other venues to educate the public about bats and wildlife conservation.

Shuttle bus service will be provided from St. James School Parking Lot B (Park Avenue and N. Oak Street) and Thomas Jefferson Elementary (601 N. Oak St.)

Some of the activities will include:

• Designing a nocturnal bookmark
• Reading nocturnal creature stories
• Create a little brown bat
• Playing nocturnal bingo

If you plan to attend, you must RSVP to Principal Halayko: khalayko@fccps.org