During her visit to Atlanta Public Schools on Friday, famed primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall greeted Jackson Elementary students in English, French, German — and even a little Chimpanzee. Delighted elementary students listened eagerly as Goodall shared her path from animal-loving toddler to world-renowned humanitarian, author and environmentalist.
“As a child, I wanted to live with animals in Africa and write books about them,” Goodall said. “It’s been 50 years since I began that study. That’s half a century, half of a hundred years, wow.”
During that half-century, Goodall and 16 teens devised a Roots & Shoots program that would harness kid power to fuel programs for people, pets and the planet. An idea that began nearly two decades ago has expanded to include thousands of students in nearly 100 countries. The Jackson Roots & Shoots organization began in 2006 when parents Mary Mapes and Liza Purcell approached the school principal, Dr. Lorraine Reich, about a local chapter.