Miss Betsy’s environmental studies class grew by one, thanks to the efforts of students interested in a new pet. Below is the first-hand account of how Shadow the Hedgehog arrived at Cherokee Creek Boys School written by Josh, who spearheaded the idea.

I was in Betsy’s class when I turned and saw a book titled Africa Pigmy Hedgehog. After the lesson, I picked it up and flipped through it. Then and there I thought, “I want a hedgehog.” I ended up reading the book cover to cover.

Later, I went and told Betsy I wanted an African pigmy hedgehog. She thought I should do some research and write David a proposal. The next day after the lesson, I got to work. I looked everywhere to find out if they were legal in South Carolina. They were so I looked even harder. I got so encouraged I couldn’t stop.

Eventually, I wrote a six page paper/proposal and got all the students and staff to sign it and then handed it in to David. He read  it and after a week he handed it back and said, “I like it. Now raise $300 dollars.”

Betsy and I put are heads together and realized family seminar was in a week. We decided to raise money there and also to approach staff to donate money. The morning before seminar we were all quite nervous. John D. and I put together a poster and we were off to the Dillard House. When we got there we set up a display. We stood up before the parents and pretty much (in a nice way) begged for money. We ended up $100 dollars short.

The next step was we talked to David and said, “What do we do? We can’t give up now.”

He said if we did community service, we could earn the money. We worked out how it would work. Each volunteer worker got $5 per person per hour. I rallied up the troops with a motivational speech and we got to work. Almost everyone in the school pitched in with extra chores around campus. A month later we had the money.

Now we had to do the hard part…….. finding a breeder nearby because you can’t get a hedgehog from a pet store. Eventually I found a breeder very close. So, we got him!

We took a vote for the name and Shadow was the winner. (Ironically he will turn out snow white.)

Josh, John and Shadow -- CCBS' prickly new class pet