Pictured Above: Savannah Carr is a junior biology major who hopes to go into the medical field.
Courtesy of Savannah Carr
By Sophie Ojdanic
In her first semester at USF, Savannah Carr was looking for ways to immerse herself into the campus culture.
“I didn’t have a whole lot of friends when I first got here, so I (hung) out a lot by the water and I started paying attention to these squirrels,” Carr said. “And I thought they were kind of weird and fascinating, so I wanted to start taking pictures of them. And that’s how the account started. It was just something to entertain me during my first semester here.”
The USF Squirrels Instagram page, which started in summer 2019, serves as a record of USF St. Petersburg’s squirrels and the stories the student body has come up with for them.
The Instagram bio tells the whole story: “We are the squirrels by the bay and we’re better than the USF Tampa squirrels.”
Carr said she thought the account would be a good way to give her fellow students a laugh.
“I just thought it’d be super funny,” Carr said. “I just saw these (squirrels) and thought it’d be really funny – especially the idea of the mystery behind it.”
Carr recalled a time she overheard two students talking about the page.
“They’re at the table right next to mine,” Carr said. “So I pulled up my phone – and I knew who the students were – so I pulled out my phone and just casually had the account request to follow them.”
Carr said the students started looking around frantically for who could be behind the account.
“That’s my favorite part is definitely the question behind it,” Carr said. “A couple of my friends know that I run it; my roommate knows. But a few of my other friends have no clue.”
Carr said a highlight of her experience with the account was when Regional Chancellor Martin Tadlock sent her some squirrel photos.
Courtesy of Savannah Carr
“I screamed when I saw that he sent me some,” Carr said.
Carr’s campus devotion does not end with comedic and candid squirrel shots.
Carr, a junior biology major and mass communications minor, is also the St. Petersburg campus’ Election Rules Committee deputy supervisor of elections, a peer-to-peer ambassador for The Nest, a peer coach and a member of USF St. Petersburg’s orientation team. She is also looking into joining a sorority.
“Basically, (my involvement has) kind of made me who I am today,” Carr said. “As cheesy as that sounds, you know, I’ve seen myself grow. Personally, I’ve seen myself stepping into new horizons.”
Carr hopes to work as a M.D. or physician’s assistant at Johns Hopkins after getting her doctorate.
“My goal is to go to pediatric trauma medicine,” Carr said. “I would like to work here at Johns Hopkins. You know, I was on their child life volunteer program prior to the pandemic. I had just started getting into the hospital but I loved it. So I want to stay over at Johns Hopkins. I love the hospital. I love everyone there.”
Carr’s roommate, Amanda Orcutt said she can see Carr reaching her goals.
“She is very determined and hardworking, and I can all but guarantee anything she puts her mind to she will thrive doing,” Orcutt, a freshman psychology major, said.
After an accident at age 14, Carr has juvenile idiopathic arthritis and, “developed (post-secondary) fibromyalgia, which is overactive nerves, due to my body compensating for the constant pain caused by (gastrointestinal) and other medical issues. It’s really annoying, but because it’s juvenile idiopathic arthritis, it’s technically classified as an autoimmune disorder.”
Orcutt said she has “yet to see (Carr’s) disability stop her from doing much, as she is determined to reach her goals.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a more pronounced effect on Carr due to her medical conditions.
“So the meds I’m on actually cause my immune system to be compromised, which is sucky,” Carr said. “Because I may have to stay away from anyone who’s sick regardless of COVID-19. Yeah, this whole everyone wearing masks and sanitizing wasn’t new for me because (it’s) what I had to do during the standard flu season … Now it’s starting to get a little annoying, because the COVID-19 vaccine – I qualify for it. But I can’t take it yet because my immune system’s too low right now.”
Carr’s other hobbies include literature and collecting vinyl records.
“So I started out (with) just records in general, until I had a lovely friend of mine last year explain to me the importance and the awesomeness, as he says, of vintage records,” Carr said. “And so I started collecting actual, like, originals. I have an original copy of the Dark Side of the Moon, (and) an original Abbey Road.”
As on-campus activities resume this fall, Carr hopes to get more students involved in submitting squirrels to her account.
“If the students send me any (squirrel) photos, I’d love to hear names and things that they want to describe,” Carr said.
Send your squirrel photos and biographies to @squirrels_of_usfsp.
