Only the Beginning...

Hello, my name is Damani Duverna and this summer I’m doing something different.

But first I’m going to tell you about myself! I’m 19. I go to Cathedral High School in Boston, MA. I love the ocean; it’s such a big and courageous place to learn about. The past 3-4 summers I’ve been working in New Hampshire getting better at life skills and making connections. At the job in New Hampshire we taught kids how to fish, canoe, kayak, shoot bows and arrows, wrestle, play a sport they have never done before, teach about nature, how to swim, etc. But this summer, my grandparents told me about a lot of programs and organizations I can join that have to do with what I really want to do in the future--which is becoming an oceanographer!

The reason why I want to be an oceanographer is because the ocean is so big and it has about two million species living in it! But I bet you there’s more we can learn about it if we keep exploring and getting deeper into the ocean. I would love to find a new species or something new about an old species and share this new information with the world. The ocean, lakes, and rivers are my favorite places to be not only because it’s good for hot days but because they can be used to help teach young ones about nature.

On my way to work!

During orientation I learned some new things, like how to tell a good story different ways to get people attached to what you're trying to tell them and how to keep them entertained. We also learned about stories of old pirates and the history of the Boston Harbor Islands. We went on a fishing trip and taught the people that didn’t know how to fish how to fish. We went to the sweet spot where most of the fish are. Also during orientation, we learned the classic Save the Harbor, Save the Bay sea shanty and we each wrote our own verse for the song.

-Damani Duverna