Every Friday all spring long, Minnesota Zoo volunteer Corrine Smith trekked to the Wells Fargo Family Farm to check on one particular piglet: the smallest one in the litter. Corrine rooted for her, hoping she’d get her fair share of milk and keep up with their siblings. Every week she peeked in on the tiny piglet, and every week found her growing bigger, stronger.

That’s a bit like Corrine’s service to the Minnesota Zoo. It started off small in 2006—one Friday a month. The Zoo was the natural place for her to volunteer. She lived a half-mile down the road, and she’d always loved animals, growing up on a farm in Iowa, with cats and dogs and hogs as constant companions.

“I started once a month,” Corrine recalls. “But next thing I know, I’m here every Friday and if I’m not, my routine is all off.”

Every Friday adds up. And now Corrine has reached a remarkable milestone: she’s gifted 10,000 hours of her time and talents to the Minnesota Zoo. She is one of only nine current volunteers to serve that number of hours, and among fewer than 20 volunteers to do so since the Zoo’s founding in 1978.

Corrine is known as a hands-on and highly organized volunteer. She’s brought her skills to numerous roles at the Zoo, from serving as a “day captain” who schedules and supports fellow volunteers, to cleaning the goat yard at the Farm, to seating guests at the dolphin training demonstrations. But she especially enjoys interacting with guests and sharing her passion for the animal world.

“I love supporting guests as they learn,” she says. “It doesn’t take much to get questions rolling.”

Minnesota Zoo volunteer Corrine Smith started as a volunteer in 2006 and in 2023, marked the milestone of 10,000 hours of service to the Zoo.

Ready for conversation and questions, she’ll often post herself near the glass during shark feedings or by the aquarium tanks where garden eels poke their tiny faces from the sandy bottom. You might find her sharing natural artifacts–antlers, bones, and furs–at the desk in the Medtronic Minnesota Lodge or among the kids (of the goat and human variety) during the Farm Babies season.

To show appreciation for Corrine’s service hour achievements over the years, Zoo staff offered her behind-the-scenes opportunities. She observed a health exam for a tiger (one of her favorite animals), shadowed Zookeepers for a day, toured the animal hospital, and helped feed the dolphins.

Having spent 10,000 hours at the Zoo, Corrine knows a special detail or two about the Zoo. She’s attuned to the little things, like how the brown bears love to take a dip in their pool but hate to get their ears wet. And she knows big things too—like the weight of the heavily muscled Burmese python (from when she took the hands-on role of assisting with measuring the snake).

“I am tremendously proud of Corrine for dedicating over 10,000 hours of outstanding service,” says Brogan Alley, the Zoo’s Volunteer Services Supervisor. “That’s the awe-inspiring equivalent of 416 round-the-clock days helping guests and assisting staff!”

“Corrine’s many years of dedication to the Minnesota Zoo is an incredible accomplishment. We are lucky to have her as a volunteer and I hope that she continues helping us for many years to come.”

The Minnesota Zoo deeply benefits from the time and talent of Corrine Smith and the support of more than 280 amazing volunteers. If you happen to see Corrine when she is volunteering, please join us in thanking her for her dedication and congratulating her for reaching this incredible milestone.

Interested in volunteering for the Minnesota Zoo? Learn more about volunteer roles for adults and teens and watch for announcements of future application periods.