This past Thursday I spent time with a fourth grade class at Shelburne Community School. I taught them about basic characteristics of apes, what species constituted the group "ape," and what was so special about the way gorillas think. Though I had done the research months ago and have had some time to mentally process the implications of communicating with another species, I forgot just how amazing Koko's accomplishments are. Seeing a group of 21 kids reacting to this information for the first time, I was reminded of just how insane it all is. They enjoyed the stories I had to share about Koko, and got to watch several videos of Koko in action. They were thrilled when they heard I would be coming back to talk to them again on Monday. Since the highlight of the first presentation was Koko, it will be more difficult to keep them engaged in the conservation aspect, since Koko is not a part of it. Overall, I feel great about how this project wound up.