A college senior in Texas posed for her graduation photos alongside a massive alligator.

Mackenzie Noland, 21, majored in wildlife ecology and is spending her summer interning at an alligator sanctuary in Beaumont, Texas. “He’s one of my best friends here,” she told Inside Edition. “I thought it was a great way to commutate my summer here.” Big Tex the gator is nearly 14 feet long and weighs 1,000 pounds. She recently posted the photos with the caption: “Not your typical graduation picture.”