Last week

Hey all,

This week was my very last one, I finished on Friday. My boss had the people in for the day all take a picture with me since it was my last day. I spent the majority of the day doing guest dive experiences and reef talks, and when I wasn't doing those, I was at touch tanks. I'm glad I'm done because I was super busy, but I will really miss the aquarium and the people I worked with. I was there last summer too, so I really feel like part of the FLAQ family!

I got a letter of recommendation with my boss, and I had a final meeting with her. They said they loved having me there, which was great. I also spoke with the head of the volunteer department about the NOYCE internships and everything, and she's interested to know more about it for gathering interns in the future. So that's good!

I am on vacation with my family in South Carolina now, so I'll be back just in time for the big meeting. Hope everyone is doing well.

Terrible week

Hey all-- not much to report for this week. I wasn't in class last week, I only worked Friday, then had a very serious personal issue over the weekend and got in a minor car accident this morning on the way to the aquarium...so I'm not sure if I am going in for the day or not. I really hope all of your weeks were better than mine. This week, I planned to finish up my project, as my internship ends Friday. I may, however, ask for a deadline extension because I don't think I'll have much time this week due to the previously mentioned personal issue. See you all on Wednesday.

I really should figure out what week it is

Hello friends!

This week at the aquarium has been pretty normal. Regular stuff going on at the touch tanks, etc. I'm excited for today because the education department gets an ice cream party!!! Apparently our reviews have gone way up in the guest survey. So that's good!

I had my midterm meeting with my supervisor to discuss my progress through the internship thus far. It's basically a chart that they fill out with all different categories and then the check a box marked outstanding, exceeds expectations, meets expectations, and need improvement. I got a mix of meets and exceeds expectations, with no boxes marked for needs improvement, plus one box for outstanding! I think it was for preparedness and organization... whatever that means!

My team has been really helpful in providing me with resources for my project. I have started it and done a little bit of research, but it really is time for me to buckle down and take care of business. That's what I'll be working on during all of my study time this week.

No clue what week it is

This week was really normal. I got trained on Guest Dive Experience, which is basically hanging out with the family of guest enjoying our Swim with the Fish or Dive with the Sharks programs. It's pretty easy, and very relaxed, but definitely align more with customer service than science, which isn't super exciting for me. I worked on my project a little bit here and there, but I really need to start picking up the speed.

My boss is super nice to me. In fact, she let me leave three hours early today so that I could watch the World Cup game. It stinks that we lost, but it's nice that my boss was willing to give me the time off!

I calculated how many hours I'm scheduled to work, and it worked out to be almost 280, so missing those few won't matter.

Hope all of your internships are going well!

What week is this?

Hola friends~

Nothing too glamorous happened at the aquarium this week, mostly just the same old stuff. I worked on my project a bit. I wrote a research paper about global climate change and its effects on coral reefs and fish populations and health. It was kinda boring.

I had a little girl basically interview me today about what exactly marine science is. She wants to study it! Little fourth or fifth grader, more than likely. Pretty cute.

Lots of babies at the aquarium.

That's really it.

This week...

This week has been SO ANNOYING. I don't know if I'm just getting tired of answering the same questions or what, but it's getting old! I have discovered my least favorite question: "So what does it do?" Seriously, it eats and digests and that's pretty much it.

It's funny how little people know about animals sometimes. There are things that I really think of as being general knowledge, and I am learning every day that I shouldn't. I don't mind so much when it comes from kids, as that's how they learn and they've had no previous experience with science, but when adults have crazy misconceptions about science, it really frustrates me! I don't care so much that the person doesn't know, but it irritates me much more that somewhere along the line, a science teacher straight-up failed this person, and probably lots of others.

For example, I had a few people at the invertebrate touch tank. It's freeing cold water with really colorful sea anemones, sea cucumbers, sea urchins, and sea stars, all from the coast of Alaska down to California. I have to tell everyone: "You can touch any animals on the top self with two fingers, but if you touch the anemones, don't poke them right in the center". The dad that was at the tank held his son over the edge to touch the anemone, and to remind him to only touch the tentacles, he said: "Only touch the feathers."

......FEATHERS.

#weekfive

Hey everybody!

So this week at the aquarium was pretty fun. I am the new favorite intern, and for good reason... my parents had a BBQ party and had 5 or 6 unopened desserts that people left at our house, including multiple Publix cookies packs and cakes. So since everyone in my family is dieting, I brought the desserts in to get rid of them. AKA I'm pretty popular now!

As far as educating goes, this week was very standard. Nothing extra-special happened, it was all pretty every-day type stuff. I have found it reallllllly difficult to make time for getting pictures of me doing my internship. We are borderline short-staffed, and people pretty much switch exhibit to exhibit without much time at all between, and I can't ask a guest to take my picture, so I'm kind of stuck for right now!

We also spent time talking about my project this week... we are narrowing down the ideas, and I will write my abstract after I decide what to do at the end of the work day!

Week 3

Week 3

This week I trained on the exhibits. There are no other interns yet, so it's just me and the hired staff! It's pretty interesting. I think that there are definitely pros and cons to working in education versus husbandry. I miss the hands-on work that I got last year, but the public speaking experience is a nice trade-off.

I hope that I will be trained on everything soon so my days are a little more varied! I started training on the shark exhibit, which would be fun. Also, there is a dolphin boat that we take guests out on, so I'd like to do that.

Week 4

This week was fun! I am trained on all three touch tanks now, so my days are a little bit more interesting. I spend equal time working t the invertebrate touch tank, the horse shoe crabs, and sting rays. I am now confident using a microphone! Never thought I would say that.

I find that I am learning a lot more information about the organisms I'm dealing with working in education compared to husbandry. It makes sense I suppose because teaching is the best way to learn. I've been trying to think of project ideas, but I am having a hard time coming up with something good. I think I might talk with my boss about any ideas she might have. Maybe there is something they need done... most stations have a fact binder, which was my original idea, so now I don't know what to do.

On Monday, when I was working at the stingray touch tank (which is the largest of the three), I had a child dunk his entire face in the water. That was interesting.

Week 2!

Wow.....my legs are tired.

Yesterday was my first day, and I had an orientation and was trained on one station. Today, the education department was short staffed. So.... I was on my one station ALL DAY! I worked in the No Bone Zone, which is an invertebrate touch tank. I have learned a lot about various sea stars, anemones, and sea cucumbers. Pretty cool, but somewhat monotonous! The cucumbers are my favorite! They have an appearance that seems somewhat hard, rocky, or prickly, but they are actually extremely squishy. It's fun to watch children think that they are touching something hard, only to find it's more like a big marshmallow.

It's funny--I can't stop the inquiry-based educator-ness! Right before a kid would touch the cucumber, I would ask them if they thought it was hard or soft, and then why. They would almost always say that it looked hard because of it's spines. Then when they felt it and freaked out when it as squishy, I would ask why they thought it would have spines if it was squishy. They would usually correctly say that the "fake" spines acted to scare of predators... very cool!

Week 1

So this week's post won't be very exciting, since I haven't started my internship yet…

I was supposed to leave Hawaii yesterday, but my plane was delayed by 24 hours, so I am leaving today instead! I have been corresponding via email with my superiors at the Florida Aquarium. There is some confusion as to which day I am starting--I have two different emails going. One is with the person in charge of all volunteers, while the other is with the person in charge of the education department. Each person gave me a different start date… So I am straightening all of that out right now. It look like I'll more than likely be starting on May 27th. 

I read the intern contract for the education internship. Last year, when I worked in husbandry, I jumped right into everything. I was following my biologist around, learning as I did, and I was doing things on my own the very first week. The new internship contract for education says that I may be subject to up to 6 weeks of training… 6 WEEKS!!! That's a lot of weeks!

Other than that, I am really excited about starting next week!