Meet Grace, a passionate educator-in-the-making from Ontario, California, who’s on a mission to connect mental health with nature. Having recently been accepted into a graduate program for Environmental Studies, Grace is also pursuing teaching credentials in mental and behavioral health. Inspired by a deep love for the ocean, especially sharks, she is working to create a learning experience that helps students care for both their minds and the environment.

In her future classroom, she hopes to take students beyond textbooks, planning trips to nature preserves and starting community circles where others can explore the connection between emotional wellness and the outdoors. 

What do you hope to learn or achieve during your time with MISS?

With MISS, I hope to explore various fields of research and get better at data analysis.
So far, I have explored sensory biology, stress physiology, and parasitology. In the future, I am interested in investigating ecotoxicology and wound healing. Currently, I hope to expand the field of shark parasitology and gain experience handling larger sharks. I would like to return as a summer camp counselor to continue participating in
environmental education, creating accessibility to science.

What projects/responsibilities have you enjoyed working on so far?

I was thrilled to do fieldwork for our red tide project and participate in shark fishing days during summer camp. Here, I gained more experience on a boat and learned new fishing methods such as longlining. As someone who is interested in blood-related research, I have been able to get more experience with collecting samples. With Dr. Andres, I enjoyed conducting research at Crystal River where there are neonate bullsharks.

What is it about sharks/the ocean that motivates you to make a difference?

The ocean keeps me grounded and brings me peace. Whether it be fieldwork or enjoying a beach sunset with good company, the ocean is where I am happiest. This also means that I have a responsibility to take care of it. When it comes to sharks, I am motivated to make a difference because they have always been portrayed in a negative light, simply for existing. This makes them all the more interesting to research and advocate for.

Do you have any advice for somebody wanting to follow a similar path as you?

The door will always remain closed if you never try to open it. Stepping into
new chapters of your life can be intimidating, but if you let that hold you
back from your passions, the opportunity will never arrive.

And of course, what’s your favorite shark?

Angular roughshark!

Nature is something that I am incredibly passionate about. My passion and understanding of nature continues to deepen as my education widens. Nature asks for nothing and provides us everything. In many cultures and lineages, there is a belief that nature is fully animate- that’s to say that nature is alive, breathing, thinking, and intelligent, alongside animals, humans and other beings. A central theme in my life for the past few years has been (still) learning how to commune with nature and the natural world in a way that is balanced, reciprocal, compassionate and open rather than in the extractive ways that the majority of modern day American culture tends to do. This journey for the past few years has inspired me to engage in land based work where I’d not only learn about the land but the beings of the land as well. 

At the end of 2023, which was a particularly challenging year for me, I intuitively and impulsively purchased a solo one way ticket to Thailand, which would be my first time ever leaving the country. I didn’t have any plan or idea on what I’d do, I just knew that I wanted to move in a new direction. One thing I’m particularly grateful for is that at one of the saddest times in my life, I chose to allow myself to be guided to the Land of Smiles. When I got to Thailand, many of my days were spent wishing I could be active but instead laying in bed. I’ve come to learn that this slowing down was an important aspect of my trip too. Slowly, as I was engaging in this period of deep healing, I began to venture further and wider. I started my travels in crammed hostel beds in busy Bangkok and during this time I was able to get really clear on what did and didn’t feel good to me. I quickly came to the understanding that I felt best surrounded by nature. Still having no set plan, I allowed myself to keep moving. 

Growing up in Florida, the beach is something that always felt like a refuge and a treat, so when I was able to meet the Thai coast, it was a really special moment for me. Having never left the country prior to this trip, I quickly came face to face with some of my own ethnocentric beliefs. I don’t even think I pondered on how beautiful any other coasts could be. Soft sand, sunny skies and blue, warm water. Freshly opened coconuts flung left and right with the sight and scent of plumeria kissing every corner. I felt my body, mind and soul slowly open in ways that had been previously foreign to me. As I was beginning to open in these ways, I felt grateful to be met with this softer surrounding. Though, when met with softness, especially after a volatile period, it’s easy to see how hard your own edges have become. Still mostly bed ridden by own self prescription, these coastal meetings quickly became the highlight of my days. Flash forward to the end of my 1 year spent in different parts of Asia, where I had progressed to working, learning about and serving on the land in different communities, (with rural Chiang Mai being a huge highlight), my intuition still serving as my primary and faithful guide.

A regret I have looking back is that I didn’t spend more time in the ocean due to a misguided fear, particularly of sharks. Like many people today, widely due to media portrayal of sharks, I was of the belief that if I were to come face to face with any shark in the ocean, that shark would want to harm me. In the crowd of a concert in Indonesia, someone I met there randomly said to me, “Did you know that sharks are like puppies of the sea?” I absolutely didn’t believe this at first, but I’m a very open and curious person, so I responded with a shocked but engaged “No way?” This began my own independent studies, with the intention being to challenge my own perception and limited view on sharks through education. As a fully remote college student, when I became aware of the opportunity to engage in an environmental internship, though with some initial fears and hesitations, I was delighted at the possibility of being able to participate. Reading through each of the 20 something environmental organizations, Minorities in Shark Sciences immediately stood out to me since I had been so curiously engaged with sharks prior to seeing this. It felt kismet. My internship with Minorities in Shark Sciences so far has been inspiring, educational, engaging, thought provoking and very full. A huge highlight of this experience for me is not only widening my own perception and understanding of sharks which naturally subdues the fearful narrative I’d allowed myself to believe, but also being able to participate in the outreach events where we can inform children on sharks so that they are not misguided and unnecessarily afraid of the ocean in the ways that I was. Since children are undoubtedly the future, I feel grateful to know that I can have a hand in creating and strengthening the vision of a world where people aren’t afraid of sharks and meet the deepness and complexity of the ocean with curiosity, excitement and reverence - not fear.