There isn't a word in existence that could accurately convey how it felt the moment I received the news of my fellowship acceptance. To know that this one experience and the knowledge gained will put me that much closer to propelling my life quality and career is unmatched. Unknowingly, I have successfully fortified my legacy and am living proof of my ancestors' wildest dreams.
Since the moment I stepped onto the New college campus, I knew this opportunity would not only be life-changing but invaluable. From the mentors to the other fellows in the fellowship, there was a special connection from the very beginning. I went from being the only African American woman in all of my stem classes to being surrounded by amazing women from different backgrounds, and it was extremely refreshing. On the very first day we hit the ground running, in pure M.I.S.S fashion. From 4 am alarms to packing, baiting, and prepping the boat, I always managed to stop and sneak in glimpses of the spectacular Florida sunrise to remind myself to always stop and smell the flowers. I went from losing gear in the water while setting long lines to becoming an expert on all things shark fishing, each set helped me to grow as a scientist and gain more confidence in the field. A lot of the time we put such a negative connotation around failing or incorrectly doing a task when really some of the best gains of knowledge and experience have been taught through struggling and critical-thinking. This opportunity gave me exactly that in terms of being able to fail and having the support to learn and try again. Scientists have to do a lot of troubleshooting and problem-solving, which is arguably one of the most important skills you’ll use as a scientist. I was able to hone this skill, and I know that it will be useful in future research experiences. Understandably there are some things you just can't prepare for and catching over 55+ sharks on our second day of surveying was one of them. The rush mixed with excitement and nerves were jolted right out of my body when the first shark hit the bow, and in an instant it was like my body knew what my brain had never been taught to do. As the instincts kicked in and our instructors' voices guided my hands, I could feel the knots in my stomach rush out in communicative chaos and excitement. One after the other we perfected prepping, working up, and releasing each shark more efficiently each time. While this fellowship was packed with full days and exhausting nights, I wish I could do it all again. After this experience, I can honestly say I swam with an 8.5ft Great Hammerhead we called Genie after Eugenie Clark, got to name and helped coax two spotted eagle rays, and help an amazing group of summer campers’ learn about Marine Biology, and that is something that most people can only dream of. I am truly grateful for this opportunity and all it has provided for me as well as the spectacular group of women involved in my personal journey and marine biology career. I have not only gained knowledge and experience but more importantly I have gained mentors that I trust, friends that I will have life long relationships with, and stories my grandkids will hardly believe!
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When I was 8 years old, I watched the news of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. I knew then that I wanted to work in environmental protection. When I applied to the Environmental Studies major at Boston College, I was confident it was the right choice. While I had taken many classes in environmental studies, going into the summer after my sophomore year, I still had virtually no experience in field research. I knew that was going to change as I prepared to head off to Rookery Bay Estuarian Reserve for my fellowship. My goal was to connect the things I was learning at Boston College with new hands-on experiences and I am happy to say that is exactly what I was able to do.
At Boston College, my studies revolve around the sociology of how humans interact with and impact the environment. Thus, the majority of the time my concentrations focus on how to improve human lives by mitigating their impact on the environment. At Rookery Bay I had the unique experience of seeing this come to life with educational and research opportunities. Working in the Environmental Learning Center, I learned how to explain scientific findings and research to different age groups in ways they could understand without a scientific background. This was extremely rewarding as I had learned in previous classes how important education is in changing people’s lives and how they view and affect the environment. At Rookery Bay I was able to get hands-on experience with numerous research projects. While I had worked with data regarding marine science and biology, I had never been the one collecting the data. This was an entirely new experience. In these projects, I got to see the impact humans had on the local ecosystems in south Florida. I saw this impact through trawling and shark tagging. In trawls, I had the opportunity to identify local flora and fauna and collect data, such as size and sample population. We would go to multiple bays to collect data on how the fish populations were changing because of things like construction and drainage in different areas. Trawling focused on how the ecosystems were affected, however, I got to see this on a smaller level through shark tagging which only focused on the individual species. Shark tagging was an important part of my research at Rookery Bay. We monitored juvenile sharks through tagging and recapture. We collected data on new sharks as well as recaptured sharks to later look at where these sharks had moved from and how long it had been since their last capture. This was also the first time I worked hands-on with sharks. After collecting data, I was able to organize the data in a spreadsheet to figure out which bays had the most sharks, what time the sharks were most active, and which species of shark was found the most in each bay. This made it easy to see correlations between bays, shark species, and human aspects such as drainage into those bays. This research solidified that I am on the right track for my career. It has given me a new perspective on how to connect my studies with the research I participated in this summer. I am so grateful for my experiences this summer through my MISS fellowship. My name is Naomi Scott, and I was selected as a fellow in the Eugenie Clark Field Research Skills and Leadership Program. Growing up I watched educational tv shows about the ocean and its organisms but living in Chicago, IL gave me little access to it. Overtime I realized that the ocean was something that I loved and wanted to explore but I struggled to find the ways to do that. When it came time for me to go to college I was excited to finally be able to study the ocean in an academic setting. My academic background is in Biology and Environmental Science, but I knew since I was a child that I wanted to do shark research.
All throughout college, I applied to shark research programs but could never seem to getmy foot in the door. Luckily a friend sent me the flyer for this fellowship, I applied, and thankfully I was accepted. Initially, I had no idea what to expect from the program, but I was ecstatic to finally get some hands-on experience doing shark research. I remember the first day like yesterday; we were on Tonya Wiley’s boat deploying gillnets and long lines for the Gulfspan project. I was very nervous because I’d never seen, let alone touched, a shark in person. We got our first shark, and it was an absolute frenzy of people yelling for a muscle punch, fin clip, and measurements! I remember the first time I had to call out the measurements for a shark and I had no idea what a precaudal lump was and it dawned on me that I had so much to learn and this is the experience that would teach me. It felt so surreal to finally be doing the things that I’d always said I wanted to do. It was the most invigorating feeling ever, and although there was so much I had no idea how to do, I knew I had Tonya and Jayne there to walk me through every step of the way. Before this fellowship, I’d had other research experiences, but this is the first one where I felt like a true scientist in the field collecting valuable data. I can honestly say that every week after that was a newkind of thrill that I’ll honestly never forget. One of my favorite things about this fellowship was the fact that they incorporated so many other institutions to give us a very well-rounded experience. We got to work with New College of Florida, MISS, Chicago’s Zoological Society’s Sarasota Dolphin Research Program and Havenworth Coastal Conservation. We participated in dolphin surveys, purse seines, drum lining, spotted eagle ray capture and release, data collection and entry, and even learned some basic statistics using R. Every week, we got to learn something new while building off the skills we’d learned in the previous week. This fellowship was the most fun and informative research experience I’ve ever had and truly one that I’ll never forget. I am very grateful to say that I was apart of the Eugenie Clark Field Research Skills and Leadership Program. Yo! My name is Jade Salis, and I am a graduate of Coastal Carolina University. I got my BS in marine science, minored in biology and was a graduate of the honors college, but I felt that my experience was lacking. I graduated in December of 2021 so most of my degree took place during the pandemic. I took labs in undergrad where there was some field work, but much was limited, or made virtual. This left me feeling unprepared for life after college.
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