Desiree Brandon-Gouveia Email & Phone Number

Indianapolis, In, Us

I am passionate about building positive experiences for youth in my own city. My role oversees the program quality, resource development, and implementation of programming for our camps and family programs across our association of greater Indianapolis.

I am responsible for the summer camp program at the Indianapolis Zoo, managing a staff 8 to 10 camp counselors and 35 Zoo teen volunteers. I oversee all discipline and accountability issues and management of the 590+ camp children we see each summer. During the camp season, I prepare all materials for the camp counselors weekly, train the counselors and zoo teens at the beginning of the season, officially evaluate the zoo teens throughout the season, and assist with the evaluation of the camp counselors at the end of the season. My daily responsibilities are to provide supervisory support for all the counselors, handle any behavioral issues from camp students, and problem solve any issues that arise. I am the direct supervisor of the zoo teens, ensuring they are properly supporting the counselor staff. At the end of the summer camp season, I create reports to assist the department in understanding the impact of the summer season, the challenges and triumphs of that year, and what recommendations would help the next year's camp experience. In the off season, I write and revamp the camp curriculum, keeping it up to date with the STEAM standards and best practices. I oversee all the ordering of camp supplies and artifacts. I also work with my manager and the Creative Services department to create the camp shirt design.

I am an educator, teaching mostly about animals and conservation. I use and employ a variety of hands on learning techniques to help students connect to STEM topics. These topics include and address, but are not limited to: animals, genetics, husbandry, conservation, climate change, engineering, aerodynamics, biomimicry, scientific field work, and animal behavior. I write and teach curriculum for ages 3 through adulthood.

I am an educator, teaching mostly about animals and conservation. I use and employ many different hands on learning techniques to help students connect to STEM topics.