CJ (UR) - Don't feed the locals

Daytona Beach, FL

My name is Scott Newlon Jr., CJ for short and I was born on May 12, 1992 right here in Daytona Beach, Florida. My dad was a student at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and that’s how it all started for me. When I was less than a year old my parents and I moved to Crestview, Florida, on the panhandle, which is about an hour east up I-10 from Pensacola and 30 minutes south of the Alabama state line. My brother and sister were also born there and that’s where I spent the first 7 years of my life. I grew up like any other kid, adventurous and curious, and spent a lot of my time outside. The Gulf was close but not that close, so I spent most of my time venturing out in the woods and grew up catching rattlesnakes, turtles, and frogs in my backyard and at times I sincerely felt like Steve Irwin. There wasn’t a lot of fishing to do, we had creeks and a bay nearby in Milton where we’d do a lot of feeding but my first exposure to the ocean was when we’d take trips to Destin and ever since that point, I loved the ocean. And from that love for the ocean grew the love for the evil shark. I guess I started nerding out over sharks because they were feared and mysterious. They were the kings of the ocean (till I found out that orcas eat the livers of great whites for a snack) and I wanted to learn more about them. I would stare at pictures upon pictures of the different shark species and learn of the variations of colors, shapes, and sizes. Which ones lived in cold water, warm water, in the open oceans or ocean floor and all the species in between. I would read book after book, annoying my parents constantly with new facts I had read. When I was 4 the movie Flipper was released and unbeknownst to me it was a reboot of a 60s TV series but Crocodile Dundee was in it and the field of marine biology looked like a lot of fun in the movie and there was a big bad hammerhead shark that freaked out the locals, the movie had everything. As an electrical engineer my old man would travel a lot, and his work would often times take him overseas and to Seattle, Washington, to do business with Boeing which is eventually where the next phase of my life took place because in 2000, our little Southern family moved across the hypotenuse of the country from the panhandle of Florida to the suburbs of Seattle. 

Crestview, FL

Washington state is great, it really is an outdoorsmans paradise, you've got two mountain ranges, a rain forest and an amazing diversity of wildlife which include my personal favorites, the orca and giant Pacific octopus. I lived in Washington from second grade up until 2016 when I left and moved back home to Florida. I have a lot of fond memories of Washington but the biggest was playing ice hockey. My love for hockey began in Florida when Pensacola had an ECHL team and my dad had season tickets but other than that there was nowhere to learn the game outside of your own driveway. So, when we moved to Washington, the first thing I did was get on a youth hockey team and my goal was to play professionally and that was my dream up until it wasn't when it just wasn't what I was destined to do. I still love the game and a lot of the principles and work ethic that I carry with me today come from my days as an athlete. 

The iconic Space Needle in Seattle, WA

Snowboarding in the Cascades, Stevens Pass, WA

One of the many invitationals our team played in. This particular one was in Spokane, WA.

I went to community college straight out of high school, I wasn’t the greatest student by any means and knew pretty quickly that I wanted to work law enforcement so I got an Associates in criminology and went looking for jobs. At around this time was unfortunately around the time when police officers nationwide were beginning to being killed in the national spotlight so I backed off of that career choice and started working with an ex hockey teammate of mine doing hardscaping, which is building retaining walls, paver walkways/patios and sprinkler systems for a couple years. At around this time was when I started asking myself if this was it. Am I just going to be a laborer for the rest of my life and make a good, honest living doing that or was there something more? 

One of the many hardscaping projects I worked on

At around this time, I watched a relatively dated documentary at the time called Sharkwater by the late Rob Stewart that brought to light the effects of the shark fin trade and the severe decline of shark populations across the planet that my passion for sharks and marine biology reappeared. Watching it made my blood boil, I felt it deep inside of me that I wanted to do something and help, in whatever way that may be. It made me committed to the conservation of vulnerable shark species (like great hammers, tigers, and threshers) and the education of the public about these apex predators. 

Now here I am, back in Florida, seeking out a career in shark biology and shark conservation. I’ve never volunteered anywhere, never been a part of a science club or shark club, haven’t done any community outreach or anything, all I know is that I want to make a difference. I went down to Palm Beach a year ago with a shark diving charter and although I don't have my open water PADI or Nitrox training, I snorkeled at the surface, surrounded by about a dozen full grown lemon sharks and that was a significant moment that changed my life. That solidified my love for them bigger than just a surface fascination but as a fascination that could inspire my life's work. I now am planning on getting my PADI cert and diving with sharks on a more regular basis, again to eliminate the deadly stigma associated with sharks and to educate the public. I love the ocean. I love sharks. That’s why I’m here. My goal I guess right now is to get a job with Florida Fish and Wildlife collecting population samples and using that information to inform the public and educate them on the fact that sharks are just curious about us, and they don't have hands to touch, only those sharp pearly whites that create the stigma that they are man eaters. 

A whale shark I encountered while shark snorkeling down in Palm Beach, FL

With that being said, this is now my fifth semester here at DSC, and I’ve only got two more classes of prerequisites to go before I can enroll at UF. UF has been my dream school ever since I was a little kid in Crestview and after learning that they hold the International Shark Attack File, it made we want to go there that much more. Being in Volusia County, there are definitely healthy populations of sharks, and many different species of sharks call this place home throughout the year which is fascinating. The opportunity to be here really pumps me up and I took OCE1001 with Dr. Woodall last semester and I really loved learning from her and her experiences and her passion for the ocean and I’m really looking forward to spending the semester with you guys and helping each other grow not only their individual marine passions but the ocean as a whole. We've still got time to make a difference. 

Century Tower at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL