Amber Padgett: Marine Biology, Week Three

This past week turned out to be the best week of the internship so far! I met even more new people, started learning all of the common and scientific names of the organisms in the REEF, and started to build friendships with the rest of the staff.

Tuesday was the first day of training for all of the new hires. There were five undergraduates who were hired, and we all went through the training together. Even though I had already been at the REEF for two weeks, the training was even more helpful in getting me prepared to start doing things on my own around the REEF. Throughout the day, the new hires came in for there separate shifts and I found that just after two weeks I was able to direct them to where things were, tell them the names of certain species in the REEF, and kind of show them the ropes of how to take care of all of the tanks.

The next couple days included many more programs with kids, which is my favorite part. We had a group of 11-year-old boys come in, and not only were they amazed by the swell sharks, but they also found two HUGE dead crabs on the beach during our beach activity. We also had a group of kids from the Family Vacation Center come in, and they were so excited about everything in the REEF, they never  wanted to leave. I realized how much I have learned in the last two weeks because I was able to explain certain things about the animals that I didn’t have a clue about a month ago. For example, I had no idea that sea stars actually remove their stomachs from their bodies to eat, and I was able to explain that to a little girl (she thought it was gross). Scott and all of the undergraduates working at the REEF are truly amazing teachers and they are all teaching me extremely valuable skills about taking care of a marine facility!

A big chunk of my week went to helping Nora, the tropical aquarist, clean the big tropical tank. The tank is too tall for us to be able to clean it by ourselves, so we spent several hours guiding each other through the tank, scrubbing off algae with our “Diaper on a Stick”. The REEF is very resourceful when it comes to figuring out how to clean things-if you ever find yourself in the REEF, you’ll notice a lot of things connected to PVC pipes. However, it works rather well and the tropical tank is looking shiny and new!

Thursday night, several REEFers and I went to watch Finding Dory. The undergrads found it only fitting that they, as marine biology majors, got watch it, and I was invited to tag along. I won’t spoil anything, I’ll just say that it was quite entertaining listening to the undergrads talk about everything the director got wrong about how marine animals live.

I’m looking forward to the next several weeks weeks at the REEF. Learning all of the crazy facts about the animals and being able to teach kids about it is such an amazing job! I love seeing little kids being as excited as I am about marine life!