Vultures of Emma Willard

Dia K. ’24, Robyn W. ’24, and the winged figures in the wide-arched sky.

BY KAITLIN RESLER

There are many unique qualities the Emma Willard School campus has to offer: the collegiate gothic style designed by the Olmstead Brothers include the tower, many castellations, parapets, finials, spandrels, and buttresses. Alongside these architectural wonders, eyes gaze down at the inner campus from gargoyles, grotesques, and the only living watchers from the grey walls: vultures.

Often, morning on campus sees the vultures on the top of Sage and Slocum halls, their claws gripping the tops of the roof or edge of the tower, wings outstretched towards the sun to burn away the last bits of morning mist. Warming themselves, the vultures look gothic and ominous, but these shy creatures signal the healthy and complex ecosystem on Mount Ida.

Though many in our campus community are fond of them, it was Dia K. ’24 who took the interest a step further for her STEAM10 project last year and embarked on research that would become the VulturesofEmma.org website.

“I really love birds,” Dia says, tracing the origins of her interest to childhood. At Emma, Dia noticed the wide variety of birds on campus. Compared to her previous school, the Emma campus was full of catbirds, robins, cardinals, hawks, doves, bluebirds, and of course vultures. Not just an imposing silhouette atop the buildings, these large birds glide across the wide sky with wingspans that can reach 178 cm (70.1 inches).

“I noticed these huge birds and no one really knew anything about them! I was asking people and they were mostly saying, I don’t know, crows maybe, or hawks? I was like that’s not a crow, and definitely not a hawk!”

The curiosity led to a STEAM10 (one of two transdisciplinary programs for 9th and 10th grades synthesizing science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) project, involving a collaboration with fellow student Robyn W. ’24 to create the code and design of the website.

The pair started work and began mentioning the project to people on campus who in turn told her about the photos they took of the vultures: it seemed that even if people didn’t know what they were, everyone was interested in them. It was clear that photos were going to be a huge part of the website though the main focus is to help people identify what they were seeing. Emma Willard School hosts two varieties of vultures—the turkey vulture and the black vulture— though many in the community Dia surveyed had no idea how many varieties of vultures even exist. The differences are noted on the identification section of their website, including information on wing shape, size, color, and habits of posture.

Launching in Fall 2022, more was in store for the Vultures of Emma Willard. In November, the website won first place in the 2022 Congressional App Award contest, and campus hosted a surprise visit with U.S.

House of Representative Paul Tonko from New York’s 20th District.

“I am always amazed by the talent and creativity of our Capital Region’s students, and this year’s submissions for the Congressional App Challenge put that ingenuity on full display,” Congressman Tonko said during his visit. “The Vultures of Emma app demonstrated both impressive coding skills and an admirable motivation to learn more and to educate others about the history of Emma Willard’s campus and its surrounding natural environment.”

At Emma, the vultures have become a part of daily life at the school, and it seems like most of those on campus feel an odd sense of affection for these strange birds. In a community that bends towards intellectual curiosity it’s no wonder that everyone is interested in, rather than repelled by, the vultures.

“This award perfectly reflects what Emma Willard is all about: creativity and collaboration,” said Jenny Rao.

“I am so proud of our students for their contributions today—and every day—in these crucial areas of computer science and technology!”

“It’s a really cool part of the school, it’s the perfect place for them!” adds Dia. “I never imagined this website would become so popular and spread beyond the Emma community. I can’t wait to see where the Vultures of Emma will take us next!”