Jaden’s Essay

For several years now, Jaden’s main passion has been spiders.  He studies them, collects them, talks about them and loves on them.  He holds them, feeds them, protects them and laughs at the funny things that they do.  He cries every single time that one of his beloved spiders dies – sometimes for days.  His dream is to be an arachnologist one day… in South America.  There aren’t that many arachnologists in the world, but one of them happens to live in Portland.  We have been in e-mail contact with her and hope to meet her soon!

Anyhow, you can imagine Jaden’s delight when he read about winning a trip to Peru, the very place that he wants to live one day,  in the Kid’s National Geographic magazine.  His eyes totally lit up and he began composing the required 300 word essay almost immediately.  The essay is supposed to be about what you have discovered as an explorer and what exciting things you have found.  Along with the essay, he was required to submit a photograph that he took that would illustrate his essay.  He worked long and hard on all of it, and I must say that I am very proud of the effort that he has put forth!  The judges will be choosing 15 winners, ages 9-14, and each winner gets to bring an adult chaperone along with them.  It would be super incredible if Jaden was one of the winners, but like he told me, “It doesn’t even matter if I win or not, Momma.  I’ve had so much fun writing this and taking the picture.  It was fun just to do it.”  But it would be awesome if he did win!! 

Here is his essay:

Spiders in my Yard

by Jaden Christopher Olson

I have found spiders to be very interesting ever since I was three years old. My favorite place to find them is in my own backyard. My brother and I have found a lot of great spiders there. Orb weavers are my favorite type to catch. I look very closely around the bushes, under rocks and under the overhang on our deck.

Once I’ve caught a spider, I put it under a cup into what I call a bug barn. I had at least 25 spiders in my collection last year. Every few days I put a couple of ants inside each cup to feed them. I once put an ant on top of a spider, and he grabbed it and ate it! I took them out and played with them every day. It was funny when I held a spider by it’s web and it crawled up to my hand. It tickled me. Sometimes I would let them crawl on a stick or I would let them get into fights with each other.

Last summer, I saved a spider’s life from a wasp who was attacking it. I took a spray bottle filled with water, squirted the wasp until it fell to the ground, and then smooshed it. I had a hard time when I had to let my spiders go this fall because I loved them. I let them free so the egg sacks they laid could hatch and I’d have more spiders to catch and observe in the spring.

There’s a lot more that I can learn about spiders. I’ve studied them a lot and can identify most kinds. My favorite, the Goliath Bird-Eating Tarantula, is found only in South America. It is my dream to live there one day as an Arachnologist.