Amber, UR- Manatees, Dolphins, and Fish Oh My!

Messing around at The Florida Aquarium

Picture I took of a manatee in Three Sisters Springs

 

From a very young age, I was introduced to the ocean, the beach, boating, swimming with the many organisms that call the oceans and waterways home, and visiting aquariums and science centers during the summer months every year from the age of 4. Throughout my educational years, I've always had a strong passion for science, especially Biology and the Marine Sciences. When my classes would visit the local aquarium I would always be the child lagging behind everyone else taking my time to inspect and marvel at each organism in every tank. During my high school years, as I mentioned in my introduction blog last week, I was one of roughly 89 students in my county selected to attend the Academy of Environmental Science in Crystal River. This is where my love for science not only blossomed into something more than just something I loved, but where I planted the roots for my future career and began thinking about spending the rest of my life getting paid to do what I love. Every day that my classmates and I went out on the river and into the Gulf of Mexico, I was not only in love with going to school, but I was in love with everything that surrounded me, the seagulls calling from above, the sounds of waves crashing into oyster beds and shores nearby, the pain of paddling about 4 miles to our destination and 4 miles back to school, and the daily sights of dolphins, bonnet head sharks, and gators. I knew instantly what I wanted to build my career upon after creating and maintaining my first marine aquarium during my sophomore year of high school. I was instantly bewildered by building my own habitat in our classroom and doing everything in my power to make sure it was properly cared for and maintained throughout the school year. We would visit a local Native American "dumping ground" island and wade about 1,500 feet off its shore to dip net for all sorts of fascinating creatures like pipefish, seahorses, and small crustaceans to fill the tank with. I would always watch the T.V. show "Tanked" on Animal Planet every night after school and spent every waking hour learning everything I could and making myself fall more in love with aquarium maintenance and building. I loved building aquariums, maintaining them, and caring for all of their residents whom call the tank their home. After moving to Daytona, I had the privilege of meeting Brett and Wayde from Tanked and I couldn't be more inspired to keep on track with my dream career of being an aquarist. I aspire to be either owning a business or working for a business that builds aquariums, or to be working at SeaWorld, Disney, or an aquarium maintaining and caring for the many marine animals who call these places their home. I believe that I'm going to take some sort of aquarium maintenance approach to my IRP whether it be interviewing and learning from current aquarists or volunteering my time to an aquarium or business to learn even more about my future career than i currently know now.

Brett and Wayde from Tanked