Summer Number Three, Now As An LHE

 Hey y'all!

I'm McRae (she/they), back for my third summer with Save the Harbor. I'm originally from South Boston but I go to school down at Penn State, studying Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences. I'm heading into my second year of college (I hope to graduate in three years instead of four, so I've been referring to it as my jophmore year), where I get to spend my time working with cows, birds, and shelter dogs. But until then, I'm excited to get back to working with fish and crabs. This year, I'll be spending most of my time at the Children's Museum as an LHE, working with kids in person for the first time since I've started at Save the Harbor.

Dog!

Cow!

Gator?

Since programming at the Children's Museum doesn't start until next week, our first week back was a little bit different than how the rest of the summer will go. On Wednesday, I tagged along on the All Access Boston Harbor trip to Spectacle Island, where we did fishing, beach walks, and swimming. The next day, our group went to Children's to store some fishing rods and learn more about what our role will be on the museum's waterfront. Friday was the first day that we actually worked with kids. We went out to Langone Park in the North End and taught a very excited camp group how to fish. The only things we caught were seaweed and a few small crabs, but the kids had a lot of fun casting.

SHE Caroline working with the camp

While this is my third year at Save the Harbor, it'll be my first "normal" summer here. For the past two years, I've been going to different beaches and waterfront sites with my teams, learning about the local environment and making virtual deliverables to be sent out to the kids Save the Harbor usually works with in person. The only time I actually interacted with people other than my groupmates was a beach bash held last year at Constitution. I'm a bit nervous about how different everything will be this year - only one person in my group has been here long enough to have worked a "normal" summer before - but I'm also excited to be able to see the impact that our programs have on kids. When I helped make deliverables, I just assumed they would be put to good use by somebody (who, I didn't really know), but that can't compare to seeing the excitement of a kid who just reeled in their first crab.

Peace out y'all :)

McRae