Taxidermy team taking one whale of a field trip Nokomis girls to work on Smithsonian mammal replica

NEWPORT – When you’re doing something nobody else is doing, people take notice. It’s a fact that Howard Whitten banks on.

Teaching taxidermy in a high school classroom doesn’t just get him and his program noticed, it offers unique opportunities for his students. The latest coup may be the best yet.

On July 29, Whitten and three of his students, all girls, will leave Maine to study for a week with taxidermists at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. They will assist with the restoration of a life-size replica of a blue whale – the largest mammal, and possibly largest animal, on Earth.

“The lead taxidermist gave me a call and asked if we would like to come,” Whitten said recently of the extraordinary invitation.

High school students don’t get this type of opportunity, he said. Studying and working as an official volunteer on the specimens at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History is a privilege reserved for college students and professionals, the teacher explained.

It was examples of the taxidermy prepared by Nokomis students for state and national competitions that caught the eye of John Matthews, the Smithsonian’s lead taxidermist. Matthews, a former board member of the National Taxidermy Association, served as a judge at the Maine Taxidermy Association’s annual show in Augusta this spring.

Nokomis students participate in competitions in Maine and other states. This week, Whitten will display their work at the national convention in Missouri.

At the Smithsonian, younger volunteers are not invited to assist with actual animal specimens because of exposure to diseases from mammals or birds, Whitten said. Matthews saw the restoration of the fiberglass whale replica as an opportunity in which the Maine students could participate.

The Nokomis students don’t work in fiberglass at school, Whitten said.

“It’s a great opportunity,” said Lindsey Welch, one of two Nokomis juniors who will make the trip. “My parents and grandparents are so excited for me.”

“It’s going to be a great learning experience,” said Maggie Clement, Welch’s classmate, who doesn’t start taxidermy class until fall. “I went to North Carolina with another [taxidermy] group. We were the only high school students. And the only girls. My parents think it’s pretty neat.”

Senior Nicole Johndro, the third student in the group, could not be reached Monday.

“The girls are the ones who are interested in pursuing taxidermy,” Whitten said of the group’s makeup. “It’s a really cool opportunity.”