Just another wild goose chase

Carly Rubin, Editor-in-Chief|May 5, 2017

Running a high school can sometimes feel like a wild goose chase, literally.

On Wednesday, May 3, members of the Homestead faculty team as well as a handful of students gathered after school in an effort to transport a family of geese out of the school’s courtyard.

Using a variety of tools, such as cardboard and a recycling bin, the group attempted to usher out the birds, but found this was no simple feat.

“Any time we work with wildlife, there is always a ‘plan’ but also a knowledge that the plan will rarely go exactly as we hope. The plan was to separate the babies from the parents and carefully take the babies through the linked courtyards in view of the parents so they follow to the front of the building where they are no longer trapped. The parents had a difficult time following us because we had far more people than normal,” Mrs. Pfaff, AP Environmental Science and biology teacher, said.

Pfaff added that moving the birds was necessary due to the prevalence of predators inhabiting the area as well as the fact that the adults, who are soon to be molting, would be unable to fly during this period, trapping them and their new babies inside the courtyard with no water source.

The Homestead goose chase has become somewhat of an annual occurrence, dating back farther than current staff members can remember. However, no year has been quite the same as the next.

“One year, we tried to get the family all the way to a pond, and they did not cooperate. We got the babies in the water and then one or two would sneak out and run back across the road to the parents. The parents were upset and honking and hissing,” Pfaff said.

In fact, there have even been ducks some years, which were “much nicer and easier,” Pfaff said.

Because the geese were a bit more volatile, this was an extremely hands-on-endeavor. “There was a lot of faculty and student involvement this year. We had a good number of teachers and other adults helping with the process. And, there were probably about ten students who were helping as well,” Principal Brett Bowers said.

One student in attendance was Alex Van Grunsven, senior. “It was super terrifying at first, but once I realized that the geese were just trying to protect their babies, rather than hurt us, it was more fun. Seeing Mr. Bowers run around the courtyard with a cardboard sheet was also hilarious to watch,” Van Grunsven said.

Despite a few (goose) bumps in the road, overall, the day was a success.