We hope that the Winter Break brought you some quality time with your family, your pets, and maybe even your family’s pets. As we slide into the new year,we’re excited to highlight more of our amazing staff and their unforgettable pets.
You may already know Lia Brunner as the School Director at DSST: Cole High School, where she leads the team who won the Giving & Cheer Shout Out competition by a landslide, generating 40% of the total shout-outs!
Lia is also the proud owner of two brothers, George and Gus.
Lia adopted them as kittens in July 2019 from the Denver Dumb Friends League. They were found together under an abandoned building- while she never thought of herself as a two cat owner (no judgements!), she just had to keep the brothers together. But she promises that two cats is the limit… we’ll see about that!
But this story really began three years ago, when she adopted a little black cat from the Denver Dumb Friends League, named Moon Wonju, or “Juju.” Moon for the name of all of Lia’s birth sisters in Korea, and Wonju for the city in Korea where she was born before she was adopted. Juju was sadly diagnosed with cancer last year, and after an unsuccessful surgery, it returned in May 2019. Juju was in a lot of pain, and Lia made the tough decision to put her down.
The very next day, Lia was at the Home Office for the monthly School Director meeting, and former Chief Operating Officer Scott Walker brought his two black foster kittens, George and Gus for a visit. After sprinting down the hallway to find the little kittens, and sobbing uncontrollably the moment she held George, she knew from this serendipitous moment that she had to have both of them in her life. She adopted them in July 2019. George and Gus are still close with their foster family, and Scott’s daughter Andie cat sits when she’s in town from college.
George enjoying one of his favorite activities- sleeping
The duo sticks with cat food for their main meals, but they do enjoy eating toilet paper as well. If you ever swing by Lia’s, her toilet paper is in the vanity cabinet!
George (left) and Gus (right) are minimalists, just like their owner, forgoing costumes and opting to wear black instead.
Do you have a pet that everyone needs to know about? Send us pictures at mac@scienceandtech.org!
