This was the first time Karwowski stood inches away from a live tarantula. More importantly, this was the first time she’d ever considered holding the eight-legged hairy creature.
But as the brown and black striped tarantula was passed from little boys to little girls, Karwowski bravely held out her hands, took a deep breath, and welcomed the crawling arachnid named Vivian.
“I feel so good right now,” Karkowski said, smiling after she held the spider. “It wasn’t that bad, it was like velvety and soft.”
Normally, a tour of the MSU Bug House, located in the Natural Science Building, has a fee of $50 for groups of 30 or fewer. But once a month, the Bug House gives a free tour to the public.
At these events, students can learn interesting facts about bugs while getting up close and personal with them.
Entomology Agriculture and Natural Resource office assistant Jennifer Verba said the open house serves as an outreach program for science and education.
“It’s an opportunity to come and see what entomology is about,” Verba said.
Graduate student Nicole Quinn has been playing with bugs since she could walk. Now she makes it her job to teach others about them.
“I feel like insects definitely have an image problem so I’m kind of helping out with that,” Quinn said.
Quinn said it’s important for people to know about the crawlers and get past fears since bugs and insects are not going anywhere.
To help educate students about them, she teaches a lab course on insects to MSU students and volunteers at the bug house giving tours a few times a month.
Quinn said, in general, little kids are the ones excited to pick everything up. However, students usually take some convincing.
“Most kids I find are really interested in insects, and it’ s not until they get older that they get scared,” she said. “Their parents tell them they should be scared when they shouldn’t be.”
For English junior Danielle Stickney, being to able to cross an item off her bucket list took priority over a lifelong fear.
“I’ve always wanted to hold a tarantula,” she said.
When Stickney decided to take a shortcut through the Natural Sciences building and stumbled upon the open house, the opportunity literally fell into her hand.
“It’s one of my biggest fears,” Stickney said. “But I did it and I’m happy I did.”
