A Day in the Life of a MISS Intern

By: Kayla Alamilla

Blog #1: How an English Major is Helping Sharks

Hi MISS members and fans!

My name is Kayla, and I am currently an intern at Minorities in Shark Sciences. I am a student at my local two-year institution with plans to transfer to an English program at a four-year university next year. As a MISS intern, I mainly help with content writing while working on my independent research on sharks, language, and local media.

For as long as I can recall, my one true aspiration has been to become a writer. As a kid, I spent all my free time writing stories and poems and even won several regional creative writing competitions. However, when it was time to pick a college major, I swayed back and forth between wanting to be a writer and wanting to pursue a career in environmental science. The latter felt like an adequate choice of major, considering my love for the natural world, especially animals. In fact, in between writing stories in my childhood, I had another dream of becoming a marine mammal veterinarian!

In my first year of college, I dove into courses like Biology and Field Biology, hoping to learn more about marine and wetland ecosystems, the environments I fell in love with while growing up in Southwest Florida. Although I gained tremendous experience and knowledge from those courses, I didn’t experience the same joy as I did in my literature class, dissecting William Blake’s “The Tyger” and exploring the symbolism of predation (nerdy, I know).

However, my literature course made me realize I enjoy looking at the environment and animals from a humanities perspective. I am specifically interested in misunderstood predators (like sharks!) and their portrayal and significance in literature, folklore, and popular media. These creatures not only play a vital role in the health of an ecosystem, but they also hold cultural importance and, therefore, must be preserved and protected through community-centered conservation. By exploring my likes and dislikes, I found a path that authentically aligns with my passions and interests.

As an English major at MISS, I am learning how language and science communication can impact shark conservation. I am also able to contribute to fun content (hello, Shark Madness!) to create engagement with supporters (like you!) while framing sharks in a positive light. In the future, I would like to continue writing content for science-based organizations like MISS while pursuing research around animal and literary studies and publishing a book of poems or essays one day!

Ultimately, it is essential to let your intuition guide you. You can definitely be a person in STEM and a writer (for instance, MISS’ CEO Jasmin Graham is a shark scientist AND a published author!). However, from my personal experience, I probably wouldn’t have found my tailored niche without exploring different options and embracing my unique interests. Whether you are devoted to writing, visual arts, robotics, engineering, cinematography, public policy, fashion, or anything beyond biology, there is still a place for you in the marine sciences—you just gotta be creative!

I included some articles discussing creativity, writing, and ocean conservation. Be sure to check them out for more inspiration!

Marine Jobs Can Be Creative, Too! | Careers with STEM
Uniting Creativity with Ocean Conservation | Conservation Career 
To STEM or to Communicate Science | Women in Ocean Science

Best Fishes!

Kayla 𓇼