Dr. Laurie Marker, Executive Director of the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), will visit Wakefield School Thursday, October 25th to introduce the students to an uncaged cheetah and tell them about CCF's efforts to save the endangered world cheetah population. Dr. Marker and her staff will talk about their efforts to manage and support the cheetah population in the wild and on their preserve in Namibia.

CCF (www.cheetah.org) is a charitable organization devoted to "research and education on cheetahs and their ecosystems," and "to working with all stakeholders to achieve best practice in the conservation and management of the world's cheetahs."

Wakefield School in The Plains, Virginia, is the only school visit planned in the United States this year. Wakefield students and teachers are particularly excited to talk with Dr. Marker about opportunities for Upper School students to volunteer at the cheetah preserve in Namibia and to design academic projects around their work with the CCF.

Wakefield School seniors all prepare and present a senior thesis as the culmination of their intellectual experience. Each student uses the skills of scholarly interdisciplinary research, original composition, and multimedia and written presentation to explore a topic of intense personal interest and report on it comprehensively. Working with the CCF offers students with the potential for senior thesis topics in areas of cheetah management, predator/prey management, Namibian culture, and others.

The presentation begins promptly at 12:30 p.m and a few seats available for the public. Please contact Betty Beamon for further details. A small reception follows the presentation for those interested in working with the CCF.