College Grad Poses With Giant Alligator For Senior Portraits

August 7, 2018

These are not your typical graduation pictures.

21-year-old Makenzie Noland recently posed alongside a 14 foot alligator at Gator Country in Beaumont for her Texas A&M senior portraits. But seeing her alongside "Big Tex" isn't as unusual as one might think.

college grad poses with alligator
Credit: Makenzie Alexis Noland

Nolan is majoring in wildlife ecology and has been interning at Gator Country park for the past three months.

"I do this every day with Big Tex," she told Beaumont Enterprise.

"I just really wanted to show off what I had been doing everyday at this internship and also how proud I am to be graduating from Texas A&M. To bring the two of these things together is just incredible."

college grad poses with alligator
Credit: Makenzie Alexis Noland

"My whole life I knew I wanted to work with animals, and people have always said you're never going to make money but at the end of the day I will be happy, so I want to make that my career," Noland added.

Click Here For The Most Popular On Sunny Skyz

feel good videoBoy With Down Syndrome Nails The Whitney Houston Challenge, And The Crowd Goes Wild

feel good storiesHusband Rents Mall Store To Share His Late Wife's Beloved Christmas Display

feel good storiesThe ‘Grandma Stand’ Is Bringing Comfort And Connection, One Conversation At A Time

feel good storiesThis Priest Secretly Became A Masked Wrestler To Fund An Orphanage

feel good storiesThe Funniest Wildlife Photos Of 2025 Are Here — And They’re Hilarious

feel good storiesThis 30-Year-Old’s Christmas Gift To His Mom Is Going Viral

feel good videoDad Jokes With Tom Hardy And His Dad

feel good videoAfter 2 Years Apart, Siblings In Foster Care Are Finally Reunited

feel good videoThe Hug That Went Viral On Facebook

feel good videoYou Have To See This 'Piggy Train' Trotting Through The Snow

feel good videoShe’s Been Helping Hungry Children For Years — This Christmas, Someone Helped Her

Chris Filippou 12:17 PM (3 minutes ago) to me