Bittersweet Conclusion to an Amazing Summer

This was hands down one of the best summers I have ever experienced.  It definitely took my mind off the stress of being an incoming freshmen in college. I knew my summer with Save the Harbor would be different but I had no idea how epic it would be. I was so lucky to be placed at Courageous Sailing Center this summer with my wonderful SME Sarah Bailey.  Easily the best memories with her this summer.  She is a great person and a very educated teacher.  I learned a lot from her and she even helped me with my college requirements which she obviously did not have to do. I am really grateful for all of her help and I am happy to have been placed with her. Courageous was a very fun site with a lot of opportunities for a fun experience. The other site I was placed in was Community Boating on the Charles River which was super fun. I was able to go kayaking for the first time in my life. I  loved my time there every morning and really appreciate it.

I would like to thank Bruce and Patty for allowing me to work here and be able to enjoy this summer with the Save the Harbor Team.  Thank you for all of the cool events like the fishing competition, the beach bash and the Red Sox clinic. I would also like to thank the Save the Harbor Team for welcoming me and allowing this summer to be as amazing as it has been. This team is very diverse with a lot of different backgrounds but that means nothing because we are all a family. I love this type of environment because no one is judged and it is all smiles and good times.

Thank you to all of you again and enjoy your lives wherever it takes you!

Save the Harbor Team and Sponsors

My last Week at STH/STB

In just one short week I will have to leave my STH/STB family and travel to the great beyond that is New York to attend Graduate School. In the 8 short weeks that I have been working here at STH I have had the great opportunity of not only getting to teach, fish, and play with the amazing kids of Boston, but I have also had the good fortune of working with some of the most incredible people I have yet to meet. This has not just been a summer job opportunity, but one that has been eye opening to say the least. I will be obtaining my Masters in Marine Conservation and Policy and this job has certainly helped point me in the right direction as to what I would like to focus on in Graduate School come this fall.

The First Fish Dissection

 I would be remiss if I did not talk about my dedicated co-workers in the post. With the majority of my time spent at Community Boating on the Charles River and Courageous Sailing in Charlestown, I have been very fortunate to have had a steady rotation of Junior Program Assistants that I have been able to get to know and learn a great deal from. From putting up with my horrible sense of direction by getting lost on a weekly basis, to putting up with my demands and high expectations, these JPA's have truly made my summer. With unwavering dedication and their daily flexibility, the work ethic that I have observed from my co-workers is inspiring, and I am confident as they head back to high school or college in the fall that they will be incredibly successful in their endeavors.

The Whole Group

Now on to the Senior Marine Educators, Lead Harbor Explorers, and the rest of the office staff that keep this place running on a daily basis. I have never walked into a job and felt so welcomed right off the bat. They have the amazing talent of making all who enter the doors of the STH/STB office feel comfortable, not to mention having the greatest sense of humor and being able to constantly keep the staff in high spirits. It is not often that you find yourself, after a day of working with the same people, that you want to leave work and continue to spend time with your co-workers. This has been one of those jobs.

Senior Program Staff and Lead Explorers

Lastly I want to talk about the reason why I took this job in the first place: to teach the kids of Boston more about the City and the ocean that I love. Every day held a new experience, filled with kids eager to learn, explore, pull traps, and fish the waters in the City of Boston. My goal for this summer was to spark interest in at least one kid and to have them leave from the program and have a desire to continue to learn more about the ocean or rivers that make Boston so unique. I would like to think that each kid that participated in the STH/STB program learned something about the ocean or river that they had never known before, or had an experience that they have never had, whether it was kayaking the Charles, catching their first fish, or holding a lobster for the very first time. Because of this I can say that I have completed my goal.

Saying Goodbye

 I feel that I can leave this position and head to Graduate School knowing that this summer I have helped make a difference, by thinking locally and acting globally, I pass the torch to the future generation of Harbor Explorers in the City of Boston. And as always- take chances, ask questions, get messy!-Sarah Bailey

Camp Harbor View Harbor Tour

Tuesday was my first time meeting the CHV crew and the energy, enthusiasm, and talent that these kids have is infectious. Not knowing what to expect, me, Tom, Will Clark, and Manny boarded the Fredrick Nolan Jr. and headed on over to Camp Harbor View to pick up the campers. The first set of kids boarded the boat and I don't know if I have ever seen more people in one place ever in my life. With three groups of what CHV refers to as "lighthouses" we had approximately 300 kids on our vessel with our mission: to educate the campers on the Boston Harbor Islands. As the boat began to move it was exciting to hear the squeals from the campers that had never been on a boat prior to this experience. Tom and Will Clark narrated the boat tour as we cruised around passing the lush green islands of Boston Harbor. I loved learning more about our unique harbor and the islands that surround us. Living in Boston the majority of my life I only knew of the existence of two harbor islands, little did I know there was a total of 34 islands total most that are even accessible! 

Soaking in the rays and the beautiful views

As the boat continued to tour itself around the harbor we paused right outside the airport and waited until a plane began to land right over our heads. It was a thrilling experience to be right under a 747 as it was landing. As the boat began to head back to Camp Harbor View Tom and Will opened the mic up to songs, rap battles, and shout outs. I could not believe how talented and fearless these kids were to get up on the mic in front of hundreds of their peers and preform.

Joyous.

As the day came to a close we said goodbye to the CHV kids and began the journey back to port at the Aquarium. It was incredible to be able to meet several of the outstanding kids from CHV and see so many faces light up with the joy of a boat ride. And as always- take chances, get messy, ask questions!-Sarah B

Carson Beach. From Algae to Zumba.

I know this may come as a shock to most of you out there in the blog-o-sphere but despite my loud voice and awesome marine fun facts there is one thing that I have struggled with throughout my life. A hardship that I have tried with no avail to over come for years. I am admitting this now for everyone to read: I can't dance. I know, I know, you're probably asking yourself how this could possibly relate to the Carson Beach Reading Night event that I just attended, so I will get to that.

Some Marbles were Found!

 This evening started out like any other. With our blue polo shirts on, and with smiles on our faces we packed up a cooler of critters and set out to the Carson Beach Reading Night event in South Boston. Upon arrival we set up our Save the Harbor touch tank and we were an immediate hit with the children of South Boston. From playing with the algae in our touch tank to cuddling up to Larry the Lobster, a good time was had by all. Some kids even had to be dragged away by parents in order to move on to the next activity. The highlight of this touch tank was without a doubt when a young boy with awesome dragon face paint on stood front and center and asked me every single question he could think of about the critters in the tank. With his mom standing behind him she said, "Tell STH what you want to be when you grow up". Now most kids at the tender age of four dream about becoming firemen or astronauts or pop stars, but this kid was something special. With a mischievous grin on his face he looked me right in the eye and said "I want to be a Marine Biologist". I can see this young boy in 12 years wearing one of our STH blue polos and inspiring the next generation of Save the Harbor advocates.

Even a Princess Stopped By

As the event picked up a Zumba instructor put on some loud music and the dancing soon began. Kiauna and Myriam, my JPAs, seemed to have the same idea at the same time. Without giving me a moment to think they took me and dragged me to the Zumba dance floor. We tried to blend in the best we could with the rest of the members on the dance floor to no avail, as we stood at least two feet taller than the 20 or so children of South Boston partaking in the festivities. In no time the three of us, in our matching blue polos, looked as if we could have been the back up dancers in Beyonce's World Tour. Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration but it felt good representing STH at this event, whether it was joining in the dancing class, or at the touch tank, the STH team was definitely a positive force to be reckoned with at the Carson Beach Reading Night.

ZUMBA!

 And as always- take chances, ask questions, get messy!- Sarah B

Our Afternoon Faithful

Andy at our "secret

At Courageous Sailing in Charlestown, we dedicate the majority of our blogs to our kids in the SSS or the Swim, Sail, Science class, therefore this is a blog dedicated to our faithful members of the extended day program at Courageous. As the SSS kids trickle out and head towards the Harvard Kent school, we at STH anxiously await the second portion of our afternoon. As the hustle and bustle of sail boats being docked, life jackets being put away, and strewn bags being collected by their owners, our STH team plots what to do with our afternoon faithful. As 3:30 rolls around the majority of kids have since signed out and headed homeward, we are greeted by our hardcore extended day-ers. These are the kids that can't wait to explore, get messy, bait hooks, pull trap, and have an all around good time. The energy and passion these kids have for fishing and lobstering is infectious, and gives us STH staffers a second wind. A standard extended afternoon consists of us walking fast to get our life jackets on (no running for safety purposes!), grabbing handfuls of bait and rods, and making our way down to the dock. As we head down to the end of dock, our now not-so-secret fishing spot, we make sure to pull every lobster trap up along the way: a total of 5 traps in all. After all the traps have been pulled, with every echinoderm, arthropod, and mollusc removed and released to the great blue (the tunicates stay as they are to tricky and numerous to peel from the traps) we make our way down, with sore arms, to the best fishing spot around.

Even the tiniest of crabs is released

With the hooks baited and the rods cast, we wait patiently for our fish friends to take a bite. We in our hardcore fishing club then take this time to have conversations about the marine world around us. Today's conversation was all about the American Lobster. After pulling up a large and legal size lobster, we talk about how to tell the difference between a male and a female (hard claspers closest to the head in males, soft in females) and why its important that we only consume the males. This is due to the fact that female lobsters of legal size are fertile and must be left to ensure future generations of these delicious crustaceans. It hits me that my knowledge of these important creatures is limited, so I took out our STH crome book (thank you Bruce!) and decided to consult the world wide web for more facts on these prehistoric looking organisms. With a maximum weight of 44 lbs these creatures take the title of the heaviest crustacean in the world! While it takes about 6 to 7 years for a lobster to be of edible size (a minimum of 3.25 inch carapace length), it is estimated that they can live for up to a hundred years. My favorite fun fact that I came across was that of all the lobsters that come across our traps only 10% will enter, and of that 10% only 6% will remain in the trap long enough to be caught. That explains why we are only getting about a lobster a day!

Ahmed getting goofy with the traps

 At the end of the day once everyone has been picked up, we clean and pack up our gear, and already start to anticipate what will be in store tomorrow for our afternoon faithful. And as always, take chances, ask questions, get messy!-Sarah B

Rock Lobstah!

Yet another day at Courageous and yet another thrilling adventure on the docks! Even though this is my first year working with Save the Harbor/ Save the Bay, I believe that Courageous Sailing Center is one of the best sites to be. The team and Senior Marine Educator (Sarah Bailey) we have on site has something to do with that as well! We try our best to make the day as enjoyable as possible for us and especially the children. Without the kids, we would not have much business to do out on the pier. Our purpose is to not only provide a fun and safe environment for them but to educate them on the sea life that swims below their feet and all around the world in different bodies of water as well as keeping their home [the water] clean too. We meet any chance we get as a team to figure how to improve ourselves and give the kids the most educational and awesome experience they could have. We plan lessons that range from bio-luminescence to sea invertebrates.

Lesson on what makes a fish a fish!

We also have activities for them to do like fishing and pulling up the famous lobster traps! The kids love to do both so its always exciting whether we try our luck fishing off the pier or surprise ourselves with the trapped critters. People may think that it can get old very fast but that only happens if you let it. We try to make every experience as new and different as we can so we will not make ourselves miserable the whole summer. I love this job and so do the rest of my team and the last thing we want is to be bored of it. The traps can never get boring because of how much of a surprise it can be each time we pull it up. Even though most of the time it is just red rock crabs or sea stars, the size and number of limbs they might have is always different and sometimes if we are lucky a lobster falls for our little traps! These lobsters vary in size as well and it is always different when we get lucky enough to find them.

Lucky day with not one lobstah but two lobstahs!
Left to right: Me, Ahmed and Omar

Fishing from the pier is always fun and the beautiful site of the city makes it all the better. We could see the amazing Zakim Bridge and the home of the Big Bad Bruins and the Celtics, The Garden. As a Boston Native, it feels great to have fun while seeing such fantastic sights of my home town. Fishing can get a little tangled, literally. Sometimes the lines cross or the line gets stuck on the pier. The line somehow even gets tangled by the same magic that makes your headphones tie up in your pocket! Regardless it is an easy fix and we are always right back to fishing!

Me untangling a mess (Quick Fix)

Fishing with a view! 

-Andy

The Great Capture

Wednesday at Community Boating we had the highest number of kids this summer, and with the beautiful weather we thought it would be a great idea to explore Boston from kayaks. Kiauna was a little apprehensive about getting in a small self propelled vessel so I stepped up to the plate and decided as a Senior Marine Educator it was my duty to help her conquer this fear. So into the double kayak we went, and I don't think Kiauna had a clue as to what she was getting herself into.

Mastering the Art of the Double Kayak

 As we paddled along the bank of the Charles I thought it would be a great talking point for the kids if we caught a sun-bathing painted turtle and talked about the differences between the fresh and salt water reptiles. I told Kiauna the game plan: I stealthy paddle near a turtle, while she gently grabs it around the roundest part of the shell and put it in the Yak. Now this is a pretty good game plan unless the person that is suppose to catch the turtle has an innate fear of turtles. To my surprise Kiauna was able to push her fears of kayaking and turtles aside and capture the wily reptile that guards to shores of the Charles.

A Delicious Turtle Snack

After the great capture we wrangled all of the kayaking kids to the center of the Charles where we talked about the painted turtle and different types of flora and fauna that can be found in the Charles. The kids were especially interested to learn about the American Eel and its ability to live in the fresh water of the Charles, travel to the salty Ocean to breed, and then subsequently die after procreating. This makes the eel catadromous, a species that travels from fresh to salt water over the course of its life, and it also makes it a terminal breeder, an organism that dies after it lays or fertilizes their eggs.

Best "classroom" Around

 

 

 

I have had the good fortune over the last several years to have some excellent teaching spaces, from snorkeling reefs in the Bahamas, to the shores of Catalina Island, but being able to educate from kayaks in the middle of the Charles was a truly indescribable feeling. It rings true with my teaching philosophy, go out and explore, ask questions, try something new-Sarah B

Taking a Moment to Appreciate the View

Today marked the start of our third week here at Courageous Sailing in Charlestown and before greeting our new group of kids for the SSS or Sail, Swim, Science class I took a moment to look around and admire my surroundings. Being from the suburbs of Boston I spent the majority of my free time these last two weeks getting lost in the City while attempting to drive from different STH/STB sites and still be on time. Before working for STH the extent of my knowledge of Boston was driving to Back Bay to spend the day on Newbury or taking the green line to Fenway Park. These past three weeks I have been able to immerse myself in all things Boston and have been able to come away with a deeper understanding of the city I call home.

Haley looking Boston Strong in front of the TD Garden

After living in California the last two years anytime someone would ask the inevitable "where are you from?" the answer was always "Boston and proud of it", although home is actually Natick, MA. After the these last couple of months with all the trials and tribulations that Boston has gone through I have felt a little guilty about saying that I am from Boston without knowing too much about Boston itself. Today I was proudly able to drive from the STH office to Courageous without getting lost, a huge feat that I didn't believe was possible a mere two weeks ago. Upon arrival at Courageous today I was able to take a look around the pier and point out where the TD Garden, North Station, East Boston, and the STH office were all located, another impressive accomplishment I could add to my Boston resume. With the help of Thi Tran I was even able to navigate the unknown waters of the Red Line and get myself home after a long day in Quincy. These last couple of weeks working for STH/STB have not only been fulfilling by being able to teach kids about the ocean that I love, but has also been able to open my eyes to all parts of my beautiful city.

A Boston Staple: Duck Tours

I can now proudly and with confidence say I am a Bostonian. Need to directions to get to North Station? No problem! Need a new place to park now that the Longfellow Bridge is under construction? Let me know and I can point you in the right direction!

And as always-take chances, ask questions, get messy! Sarah B

Surviving a Heat Wave!

Whoa was it hot today! With temperatures reaching a staggering 91 degrees today the STH/STB had to get creative with our activities to try to minimize our exposure to the intense heat! At Community Boating this morning we were greeted with a surprise when we discovered that the Rozalia Project had set up and brought their Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicle, or ROV, to teach kids the importance of cleaning up marine trash.

Top Ten Pieces of Marine Trash

 Rachel, the director at Rozalia, had the kids guess what the top ten most abundant types of marine trash were. The kids were surprised to realize that the majority of trash are items that would come from a picnic, things like wrappers, plates, and utensils. The kids all enjoyed taking turns helping the ROV remove trash from the bottom of the Charles River and taking those pesky pieces of plastic that when left in the ocean/river take up to 450 years before they degrade!

Chalk animals!

We spent our afternoon at Courageous in Charlestown and we all learned about invertebrates! All week we have been pulling up our lobster pots that are full of sea stars, crabs, lobsters, and mussels without knowing much about these incredible organisms. We sat as a group and named all the invertebrates we could think of and then placed them into categories based on defining characteristics. Then we broke into groups and drew our very own invertebrates with chalk and had to categorize our invertebrate into echinoderm (spiny skin), mollusc (soft body), arthropod (jointed limbs), cnidarian (stinging cells), porifera (sponges), or annalid (segmented body).

Of course with all this learning we had to take a break- so when a game of jump rope was started, we had to join.

Stellar Jump-Roping Skills

What a full day it was out on the river and harbor, and we look forward to tomorrow to continue to have fun, learn and play in the middle of the heat wave.

And as always- take chances, ask questions, get messy!- Sarah B

Run River!

What a fantastic way to start the week at Courageous Sailing in Charlestown. As we got to Courageous we set up our lobster traps, baited our hooks, and prepared a special activity for the kids! The activity, known as "Run River" is all about raising environmental awareness when discussing how we get our fresh water, food, and dispose of our waste here in Boston. The kids were divided into three groups and given a white board with a mountain, river or island setting and were given the instructions to create your own town, making sure to include a fresh water source, food source, waste disposal, energy source, and of course a creative town name!

Discussing Run River

After all the towns were created, each group was given the additional task of presenting their town and fielding questions by their peers in regards to their town. As the kids discussed desalination plants, wind turbines, and solar power all the Save the Harbor staff was truly impressed with the incredible ideas being thrown around. After the last of the presentations we collected all the white boards and laid them down next to each other to reveal that all of the towns were connected by one river!

All of our Towns Connected

We then were able to discuss how we all affected one another, especially when it came to the disposal of our waste. Several of the towns "upstream" had disposed of the waste down the river and we talked about how it would then pollute the fresh water source for the other towns, and eventually end up in the ocean. We then talked to the kids about how our waste used to be dumped in Boston Harbor, but was now pumped to Deer Island for treatment, then safely released nine miles off shore as a way to clean up our harbor. As we wrapped up our activity by discussing ways to improve our towns that we had created, the STH/STB staff was impressed and touched when Hannah, part of the island community, suggested a great idea. She suggested that the very top community of the river build a pipe that lead through each of the other communities to bring the waste to the island, where they would build a treatment plant to treat all the waste water to be disposed of safely and responsibility. It was incredible to see each kid participate and problem solve, and it was evident that we all learned something new about our Harbor and how important it is to keep clean and conserve it for future generations.

And as always-take chances, ask questions, get messy! Sarah B

Making the Most of a Rainy Day

At Community Boating on the Charles this morning, we met the kids and ran eagerly to the eel trap that had been left soaking all night with several smashed clams inside. Slowly the trap was pulled up, and just as the trap reached the surface it was clear that it teeming with living things bubbling around inside! Within a matter of minutes we had filled our bucket with a dozen american eels and we were the hit of Community Boating! A new game of "grab-an-eel" was played, and even the sailing instructors got in on the action as the squirmy eels were covered in a coat of mucus making it near impossible to catch. The kids described the bucket as "a bucket of moving spaghetti and only a few victors emerged from this new game.

Lively game of Grab-An-Eel

Finally a victor, our very own Andy!

Soon after the rain began to fall and we quickly made our way indoors, where we were able to talk about the anatomy of a fish, and even got to play a little hangman with our newly formed vocabulary words (lateral line was a favorite!). As the rain let up we headed on over to Courageous Sailing and were very happy to see the sun! The highlight of the day was pulling up the lobster traps that had been set out overnight to find them full to the brim with several types of crabs, a lobster, and tons of sea stars.

We even put some sea stars on and pretended to be Sheriffs of the Dock!

Helen demonstrating that many hands make light the work

At the end of the day our arms were exhausted from pulling up trap after trap when Helen got a bunch of kids together and thought it would be a good idea if we worked as a team to pull up the last of the traps. It worked like a charm and we all realized that the more people that helped the easier lifting the traps became! I can't wait to see what other lessons we will learn as the summer continues!

A Courageous Day

Hello all! Kiki here again.

Monday was a fun filled day at Courageous Sailing. We taught kids how to fish, showed them the proper way to hold a crab, let them hold sea stars, and taught them how they can tell what the gender of a crab is. At first I was nervous because it was the first day, but after I got into the swing of things, it was great! The kids were so eager to learn. A lot of them had never gone fishing before so I thought it was pretty cool to be the one to give them that experience! 

Just cruising. Look at that view!

The kids had some interesting questions, and it felt pretty cool to know almost all of the answers. Then, one of them asked me, "Are we going to catch a shark?" They're so cute with their crazy ideas. Of course we didn't catch any sharks. We really didn't catch any fish at all, to be honest, but there's always another day. Everyday holds a new adventure for us. We did catch crabs and sea stars, and that seemed to suffice! It's difficult having to start all over with getting to know new kids everyday, but the pros outweigh the cons. It's still fun to see new faces. The challenge is exciting.

Manny and the kids waiting around for fish.

Sarah Bailey is very focused on hooking that fishing rod.

My Senior Marine Educator, Sarah Bailey, was SO fun to work with. She knows almost everything there is to know about sea creatures and practically all things "ocean". Part of the reason I was able to answer the kids' questions is because of HER. I had relatively the same questions during orientation as the kids did at Courageous. The best thing about this job is that if someone asks a question that you don't know the answer to, most likely someone else from STH/STB knows the answer. I guess it's true what they say. You really do learn something new everyday. 

                     
 - Kiauna Peete ("Kiki")

So Many Fish, So Little Time

We started off our day bright and early with a visit to Community Boating located on the Charles River.  Soon after our arrival we baited our eel trap and baited our hooks and waited patiently to see what the day had to offer. Before no time the white and red floaters on the fishing lines soon began to bob feverishly up-and-down, the tell tale sign of something on the other end. Within 30 minutes we had already caught 6 fish, mostly sunfish but with a surprising catch of a small, largemouth bass.

Might look small, but put up quite a fight

As we pulled up our eel trap to our amazement there were no eels to be found, yet sunfish the size of silver dollars had managed to get caught in our trap and it was a perfect opportunity to talk about the different eating times of our chosen prey. After discussing the nocturnal habits of the eels, the kids decided it would be best to let our eel trap soak over night in hopes that tomorrow morning the trap will be bubbling full of eels!

Tiny sunfish caught in our eel trap

As we moved to our afternoon site at Courageous Sailing our luck fishing continued and we caught to chogies right away. After baiting 4 of our lobster traps we let them sit while we took turns fishing and using different types of bait that we had found, from mussels to invasive crabs much fun was had by all to see which type of bait was most successful (it was mussels!). At the very end of the day we decided it was time to pull the lobster traps to check them for any interesting marine critters. As we pulled up our first trap the excited squeals of "We got a lobster!" echoed down the pier. Affectionately named "Robert Lobster" by the kids, we could not help but take some pictures with our first lobster of the season at Courageous.

Trying to give the lobster a smooch!

After such a lucky day on the water, as we all left for the night we couldn't help but dream about what tomorrow, and the rest of the summer, will hold.

Warming Up For Summer

A little yoga warm-up in East Boston

Greetings from Sarah Bailey!

Save the Harbor/Save the Bay's Senior Marine Educators think that there is no better way to celebrate a beautiful, rain free day then visiting some fantastic beaches in East Boston!
After spending some time working in the office the Senior Marine Educators and All Access staffers enjoyed a site visit to East Boston by stretching out and doing some yoga to greet the sun and gear up for summer.

 After meeting the fantastic crew at Piers Park Sailing Center, we headed on down to Constitution Beach! A fun day was had by all as we excitedly talked about what the summer would offer! From meeting new kids and teaching the importance of the conservation of Boston Harbor, it was clear to us that we had quite a summer in front of us. As the training week comes to a close we are all giddy with anticipation for our first day out on the job with the kids! We hope to see you (as well as the sun!) out there with us this summer, learning, exploring, and most importantly, having fun!

See you soon - on a beach, an island or a dock near you!

Sarah Bailey

Straight Bloggin' It

Hello everyone out there in the blog-o-sphere! My name is Sarah Bailey and this will be my first summer working as a Senior Marine Educator for Save the Harbor/Save the Bay and I am just bubbling with excitement! (I promise I will make a conscious effort to not end all of my sentences with exclamation points) My interest in the ocean was sparked by spending my summers on the shore of Buzzards Bay fishing, lobstering, letting no rock go unturned, and netting tiny minnows and eels. My original professional aspirations were to become a full time mermaid but I had to reluctantly accept that was highly unlikely (I may or may not still be holding out hope), so I settled for the next best thing and decided to become a Marine Biologist and Educator.

 

See you on the beach, an island, a dock - or in the cool clean water of Boston Harbor soon!

Upon receiving my B.S. from University of Miami with majors in Marine Science and Biology I took a break from research and moved out to Catalina Island in California in order to become an Outdoor Marine Educator. I have spent the last two years leading students on kayaks, snorkels, tide-pooling adventures, and squid dissections which have been both rewarding and life altering. Last summer I spent my time working as a Marine Ecology Mentor for High School students in Eleuthera, Bahamas focusing on over-fishing, invasive species, and anthropogenic affects on the local ecosystems. We also had the opportunity to work with local researchers and were able to long-line for sharks and tag green sea turtles in the shallow sounds.
My interests include SCUBA diving, spear fishing, and cooking; my dislikes include mushrooms and bad reality television. My goal for this summer is ignite the spark in at least one kid so that upon leaving our activity, whether its tide-pooling, lobstering, fishing or any other incredible experience that is offered this summer, that she or he is inspired to continue to learn about the ocean and work toward continuing the effort to conserve it by sharing their knowledge with friends.