Sophie Kalmin has built her college major around her two passions: helping endangered species and engaging in politics. The Emory University 2026 graduating senior majored in American Studies and minored in Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies. This allowed her to study the intersection of zoos and government.
She said she took a wide range of classes, including sociology, political science, history and environmental science, which informed and led her to write an honors thesis titled “Pause and Reflect: Zoo Atlanta’s Pursuit of Credibility.”
“I investigated how Zoo Atlanta views public trust and credibility as an important kind of value of the institution,” explained Kalmin. “So, I interviewed a few officials at the zoo, and they talked about the troubling history that really pivoted in the 1980s, specifically 1984, where they were like, ‘We need to change our behavior. We want better for Willie B. We want better for all our animals.’ It was a really fun project to do on this journey along the way.”
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