Pat Knox and her class of fourth graders get up close and personal with an ailing albino

Much like Marjorie Stoneman Douglas, Knox is a pioneer researcher of Florida's environment and an expert on the area's local wildlife. For the past 30 years, she has been sharing that knowledge with her students, teaching dozens of new generations about the importance of preserving Florida's unique environment and wild creatures. In fact, her reputation has earned her the title of 'the critter lady.'

"I teach my students facts that they'll never find in a book," she said. "It's the kind of knowledge you can only learn about first-hand."

Pat Knox shows Christy Russo and Anthony Armas how to feed some baby opossums whose mother was run over by a car. The babies will be returned to the wild when they're old enough to take care of themselves.

At any given time, Knox's tiny classroom is filled with all kinds of wild animals. Today, there's a 10-foot albino Burmese python, a baby alligator, a red rat snake, a California King snake, a ball python, a hedgehog, mice, turtles, spiders, fish, parrots, iguanas, frogs and a litter of baby opossums.

Students in Pat Knox's environmental science class are actively involved in preserving Florida's environment through organizations like Young Friends of the Everglades.

"People bring me injured and misplaced wild animals all the time," said Knox, who also founded and runs the Wee Care Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Homestead, a non-profit organization devoted to rescuing, caring for and returning wild animals to their natural environment.

Many of those animals end up in Knox's classroom as the "lesson of the day." But Knox also takes her students out to see Florida's natural environment in person. For example, she takes her kindergarten class to visit a Miccosukee village to learn about the history and culture of the tribe. She takes her first graders to the Everglades to see an alligator in its natural habitat. She takes her second graders on a Bay Walk along Key Biscayne to see a coastal environment and its denizens. Her third graders visit with Buffalo Tiger, the former chief for 33 years of the Miccosukee, who tells them about his life growing up on a hammock. Her fourth graders explore Shark Valley, while her fifth and sixth graders take a walk through a sawgrass marsh, a cypress dome and a pineland forest.

"Children are never too young to learn about the environment," Knox said. "In fact, this is the best age because they are very enthusiastic. These are the people who will grow up to change our future. And you can't protect the wildlife without saving the environment. It's all interconnected."

Students in Knox's class experience a real hardwood hammock, a butterfly garden and wetlands area, all located right on the school's campus. Her students have become so knowledgeable about these preserves that they lead tours for visiting students from other schools.

"What I try to get across to my students is that every person can make a difference, even if it's only in your own back yard," Knox explained.

But many of her students have set their sights on broader issues. For example, 10-year-old Ryan Eton is involved in the campaign to prevent an airport from being built at the old Homestead Air Force Base.

"There's not only the danger to the animals and the environment," said Ryan, "but no one talks about how the Turkey Point nuclear power plant is so close by, and if a bird gets caught in one of the planes' engines and it crashes into the power plant, Florida's gone."

Nicholas Betancourt, age 9, is one of the guides for the nature preserves at his school.

"The other students really have a lot to learn," Betancourt said. "They don't even know what questions to ask."

Christy Russo and Anthony Armas, both nine years old, really enjoy seeing the animals that Knox brings to her class.

"I like it when she takes out the babies," Russo said. Meantime, Armas added that he "really likes the thrilling animals, like sharks and snakes and alligators and stuff. 

"I'd like to be a normal human doctor when I grow up," he said.

Over the years, many of Knox's alumni have become professionals in the environmental field, while others have become teachers.

"There is a famous quote," Knox said, "that goes, 'In the end, we will save only what we love. We will love only what we understand. We will understand only what we're taught.' "And, that's my job."