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Students witnessed a once-in-a-lifetime moment on Saturday when Jane Goodall spoke at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg on UTampa’s Roots & Shoots chapter’s 10-year anniversary.

Goodall, the famous environmentalist and chimpanzee expert, created the Roots & Shoots organization 33 years ago to inspire students of all ages to help animals, their community and the environment. UTampa’s chapter was Tampa Bay’s first.

Goodall spoke after an event called “The Summit,” a sun-up to sun-down educational field day at the stadium, which was open to the community.

UTampa students who volunteered or presented their research about the environment at the Summit received free tickets to the event.

The Summit started for volunteers at 7 a.m., but over 4,000 attendees, some who were there from the start, stayed until 9 p.m. to hear Goodall.

Kylie Johnson ’26, Roots & Shoots co-vice president and a marine science-biology major, was among the volunteers. She and other women volunteering said Goodall is who inspired them to enter male-dominated STEM fields.

Johnson has an everyday reminder of this inspiration. Tattooed on her left bicep is a quote from Goodall: “The greatest danger to our future is apathy.”

Families at The Summit saw snakes, falcons and more while learning about environmental conservation by academics and grassroots volunteers alike. UTampa’s Roots & Shoots was one of several universities and nonprofits represented, tabling among 50-60 organizations inspired by Goodall.

The day was made even more special when the founder of UTampa’s Roots & Shoots, Alana Boyles ’17, flew from Colorado for the anniversary and to see how the today’s students carry out the legacy of the club she started when she borrowed her roommate’s car one day to go to a beach cleanup.

She said she enjoyed seeing a well-organized unit of Spartans.

Professor of Environmental Studies Daniel Huber, current Roots & Shoots advisor, said the key to Roots & Shoots’ longevity is its leadership development and belief in Goodall’s vision. Huber said he’s grateful to “not reinvent the wheel every five years.” He called Goodall the single most inspirational speaker he’s ever seen.

“She has a way of making you feel empowered to do the thing that you might not think you're able to do,” he said. “If you talk to any of the folks that are in the leadership with the Jane Goodall Institute, every one of them has some story where they said an idea (and) Jane looked them straight in the eye and said, ‘Okay, now it's your time to go do that.’”

Goodall entered the stadium to a roaring standing ovation, spoke about her life, her inspirations and the origins of Roots & Shoots, which started with just a dozen high schoolers in Tanzania.

Roots & Shoots started so that “young people can choose what they want to do; they’re not told what they have to do,” Goodall said.

Goodall left the hour speech on the optimistic note that the world can and will be saved by young people, the human intellect and the indomitable human spirit.

UTampa students plan to bring Goodall’s lessons to their daily lives, back to the classroom and back to the next meeting of Roots & Shoots.

To learn more about UTampa’s chapter of Roots & Shoots, visit the club on Instagram or InvolveUT.