What do you want to be when you grow up?

“A herpetologist. Herpetology is the study of reptiles. I’ve always just found snakes and geckos and stuff like that very amazing. Seeing a channel on YouTube called Snake Discovery, they have so many different snakes and I just want to do that. My favorite snake is a hognose snake. They are a burrowing species and to help them burrow, their noses turn upwards. It’s so cute! When they get mad they flatten their head out and their cheeks go puff. Not all snakes are bad. Snakes are more afraid of you than you are of them. You shouldn’t kill snakes just because you think they’re bad.” – Ava Curtis, 13, of Madison.

Curtis hopes one day to own a pet spiny-tailed lizard. She said if she could make a rule that everyone had to follow, it would be:

“Don’t murder reptiles unless you have a very good reason to and no homophobia.”

Ava Curtis hopes to study reptiles. (Tamika Moore/People of Alabama)

These are the faces and stories of people from all walks of life who call Alabama home. People of Alabama is a Red Clay Media and Alabama NewsCenter partnership.