Carly, UR - Art is I; Science is we.

Brother(left) and I (right) in front of the lake we grew
up on.

When I was around five years old I remember being in our family SUV and we had just arrived to SeaWorld Orlando, that's when I threw up.  Luckily, my mom is amazing and brought some extra clothes for me, so we continued what was my first of many visits to SeaWorld.

Fast forward to sophomore year of high school, 16 years old, avid artist, but I need to take some elective courses so I chose a Marine Biology class.  I absolutely adored the class, every aspect from odd deep sea invertebrates to marine mammals.

These were just a couple of the many factors that have led me to where I am today.  As I said in my previous post, I have been working at Marineland Dolphin Adventure for almost two years.  Working there basically rekindled my love for marine life and helped me realize where I really need to be.  The first coworkers I befriended weren't those of my own department (guest services), it was the aquarists.  These kind-hearted, hard-working folks that take care of our gallery of aquariums from sand tiger sharks to hogfish.  I constantly asked them questions about why they did this or that, what the lifespan of something was, etc.
After a year, a couple of aquarist positions opened up and I figured I would apply; however the interview was a total disaster, I had no idea what I was talking about, other than some random facts about dolphins, sharks, and sea turtles.  I didn't know how our life support systems worked and didn't understand the position.  The head aquarist from our parent company talked to me a couple days after and commended me on my positivity, but I didn't have the knowledge or experience needed.

A year later, I'm now in this course, with almost a year of volunteering with the aquarists under my belt and continuing my education for my second Bachelor's degree.

Our common ocotopus taking apart a Mr. Potato Head.  One of her
many EEDs (Environmental Enrichment Device).

Every chance I get to volunteer grows my love for the zoology field, especially the variety it brings.  It involves the creative problem solving hands-on approach I enjoy from art (and video games), with a biological science.  It's the best of all the worlds I've come to know and love growing up.

One of our 12 sand tiger sharks, Female 4. 

My specific interests between the animals continues to change every week (this week it's our new cuban hogfish!), my first and still over-arcing love is our sand tiger sharks.  For my independent research project, I'm still not confident in my direction.  I would enjoy studying some new aspects of our sand tiger sharks or one of the other animals I work with.  There are also gaps in my knowledge on things like water quality that I would like to learn more about as well, so that is another route I could take.

Best fishes, Carly Magnus