My name is Lauren, I am 16 years old and a 10th grader in high school.

My passion is working with animals, in particular reptiles and amphibians (herpetology). I do educational and hands-on presentations with my animals for children. I present in schools for free because I believe it is so important to pass down knowledge about these misunderstood animals. I have brought my animals into 6 different local schools and over 20 classrooms already this school year. I have shared my knowledge and understanding of these animals with hundreds of students - if you want to see more about what I do search Lizardopolis on Facebook or go to Lizardopolis.com 

Earlier this year, I entered a Junior Herpetologist contest with the International Herpetological Symposium with other applicants from all over the USA. The application included letters of recommendation, a research essay, artwork, and a letter explaining why I should win the contest. I came in as one of the four runners-up in my age group which gains me free admission to the Symposium. If I had won it would have allowed me to attend the IHS conference in St Louis at the end of June 2016 for free (including all travel paid for).

The leading herpetologists in the world will be there, giving talks about all kinds of reptiles and amphibians. Being at IHS will help me to expand my knowledge of these animals so I can do what I do now even better. It will also allow me to network with leading scientists in the field of herpetology and hopefully open some doors for me in the future as I continue my education and my path towards the study of herpetology.

Unfortunately, it costs a lot of money to travel to St Louis, as we need to pay the airfare for my mom and myself, hotel cost, and all the meal costs. I am asking people to please help me with my travel expenses so I can attend the International Herpetological Symposium June 22 - 25, 2016.

Thank you very much, this means the world to me.