{"id":11696,"date":"2019-01-09T13:33:05","date_gmt":"2019-01-09T17:33:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/?p=11696"},"modified":"2022-03-22T11:56:15","modified_gmt":"2022-03-22T15:56:15","slug":"squirrels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/squirrels\/","title":{"rendered":"K Student Club Goes Nuts for Squirrels"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>What buries food, stares at you, drags pizza across campus and runs across tree limbs in the Quad? They\u2019re squirrels, and a group of Kalamazoo College students dedicates time to watching them.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_11699\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11699\" style=\"width: 584px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11699 size-large\" src=\"\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/01\/Squirrel-Watching-Club-Photo-Provided-600x449.jpeg\" alt=\"Squirrels at Kalamazoo College\" width=\"584\" height=\"437\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/01\/Squirrel-Watching-Club-Photo-Provided-600x449.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/01\/Squirrel-Watching-Club-Photo-Provided-150x112.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/01\/Squirrel-Watching-Club-Photo-Provided-300x224.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/01\/Squirrel-Watching-Club-Photo-Provided-401x300.jpeg 401w, https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/01\/Squirrel-Watching-Club-Photo-Provided.jpeg 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-11699\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Squirrels draw a lot of attention from Kalamazoo College students, especially from those in the Squirrel-Watching Club. Marissa Castellana &#8217;20 won the club&#8217;s photo contest in spring 2018 with this photo taken on campus.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cMy housemates and I were interested in the squirrels around our house last year because it seemed like they were always doing something strange,\u201d said Ryan Mulder \u201920, a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/programs\/spanish\/\">Spanish<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/programs\/economics-business\/\">business<\/a> double major from Grand Rapids, Michigan. One of the squirrels even sounded like it was \u201cbarking\u201d at him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was so surprised because I never knew that squirrels made noises like that,\u201d Mulder said.<\/p>\n<p>That observation sparked the idea for an official student organization, the Squirrel-Watching Club.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe knew there were similar clubs at other schools and it seemed like fun to start our own,\u201d said Mulder, the organization\u2019s president. \u201cSquirrels are just so curious that it&#8217;s easy to find them doing something weird.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>About five to 10 students attend most meetings, employing binoculars and a 10-pound bag of squirrel feed to foster their observations. They also are active on social media and have conducted a squirrel photo contest.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe most unique thing about the squirrels on K&#8217;s campus is that they&#8217;re somewhat used to the students and are more likely to interact with us,\u201d Mulder said. \u201cI think the most interesting encounters we have had with the squirrels on campus would not have taken place had they not grown up with so many people around.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mulder is among many club members on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/k-plan\/study-abroad\/\">study abroad<\/a> this term, so National Squirrel Appreciation Day on Jan. 21 will have to pass this year without any official club activities. However, Mulder will still mark the day.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo celebrate National Squirrel Appreciation Day I think I will try and learn more about squirrels\u2019 importance in the ecosystem in order to better appreciate them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Meetings are expected to continue again soon thanks to the rascals that keep current students entertained and capture intrigue from incoming students.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe squirrels at K are a fun distraction from schoolwork and just being outside to relax and watch them is great for the stress that can come with tough classes,\u201d Mulder said.<\/p>\n<p>Kalamazoo College has more than 70 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/student-life\/student-organizations\/\">student organizations<\/a> including the Squirrel-Watching Club. For more information on the Squirrel-Watching Club, message the group through its Instagram page, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/squirrelsofkcollege\/\">@SquirrelsofKCollege<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What buries food, stares at you, drags pizza across campus and runs across tree limbs in the Quad? They\u2019re squirrels, and a group of Kalamazoo College students dedicates time to watching them. \u201cMy housemates and I were interested in the squirrels around our house last year because it seemed like they were always doing something [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":147,"featured_media":11699,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[231],"tags":[103,38],"post_formats":[],"class_list":["post-11696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-students","tag-student-organizations","tag-students"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\r\n<title>Squirrels Provide Distractions for K Club Members - News and Events<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What buries food, stares at you, drags pizza across campus and runs across tree limbs in the Quad? 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They\u2019re squirrels, and a group of Kalamazoo College students dedicates time to watching them.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_11699\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11699\" style=\"width: 584px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11699 size-large\" src=\"\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/01\/Squirrel-Watching-Club-Photo-Provided-600x449.jpeg\" alt=\"Squirrels at Kalamazoo College\" width=\"584\" height=\"437\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-11699\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Squirrels draw a lot of attention from Kalamazoo College students, especially from those in the Squirrel-Watching Club. Marissa Castellana &#8217;20 won the club&#8217;s photo contest in spring 2018 with this photo taken on campus.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cMy housemates and I were interested in the squirrels around our house last year because it seemed like they were always doing something strange,\u201d said Ryan Mulder \u201920, a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/programs\/spanish\/\">Spanish<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/programs\/economics-business\/\">business<\/a> double major from Grand Rapids, Michigan. One of the squirrels even sounded like it was \u201cbarking\u201d at him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was so surprised because I never knew that squirrels made noises like that,\u201d Mulder said.<\/p>\n<p>That observation sparked the idea for an official student organization, the Squirrel-Watching Club.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe knew there were similar clubs at other schools and it seemed like fun to start our own,\u201d said Mulder, the organization\u2019s president. \u201cSquirrels are just so curious that it&#8217;s easy to find them doing something weird.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>About five to 10 students attend most meetings, employing binoculars and a 10-pound bag of squirrel feed to foster their observations. They also are active on social media and have conducted a squirrel photo contest.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe most unique thing about the squirrels on K&#8217;s campus is that they&#8217;re somewhat used to the students and are more likely to interact with us,\u201d Mulder said. \u201cI think the most interesting encounters we have had with the squirrels on campus would not have taken place had they not grown up with so many people around.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mulder is among many club members on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/k-plan\/study-abroad\/\">study abroad<\/a> this term, so National Squirrel Appreciation Day on Jan. 21 will have to pass this year without any official club activities. However, Mulder will still mark the day.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo celebrate National Squirrel Appreciation Day I think I will try and learn more about squirrels\u2019 importance in the ecosystem in order to better appreciate them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Meetings are expected to continue again soon thanks to the rascals that keep current students entertained and capture intrigue from incoming students.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe squirrels at K are a fun distraction from schoolwork and just being outside to relax and watch them is great for the stress that can come with tough classes,\u201d Mulder said.<\/p>\n<p>Kalamazoo College has more than 70 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/student-life\/student-organizations\/\">student organizations<\/a> including the Squirrel-Watching Club. For more information on the Squirrel-Watching Club, message the group through its Instagram page, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/squirrelsofkcollege\/\">@SquirrelsofKCollege<\/a>.<\/p>\n","comment_info":"No Comments","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/147"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11696"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11706,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11696\/revisions\/11706"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11696"},{"taxonomy":"post_format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_formats?post=11696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}