Our Summer Scholars’ time is drawing to a close at the end of the month, so we’re hearing some final words, at least for the moment, from some of them, starting with Diana:<\/p>\n
“These past weeks have been filled with things that I never thought would happen and have surprised me in the most spectacular ways.\u00a0 First, I went on vacation to Vancouver, BC and Seattle, WA which was a memorable experience.\u00a0 I was able to see behind the scenes tanks and animals at the Vancouver Aquarium and even got to see Leonardo Da Vinci\u2019s works in person as well as King Tutankhamen\u2019s burial chamber items.\u00a0 This vacation was a nice break from the craziness of the visitor\u2019s center and refreshed me for another few weeks as an education intern.\u00a0 The moment I returned many volunteers and other workers at Hatfield were asking about my vacation.\u00a0 Even this little thing made me feel fully welcomed into the Hatfield family.\u00a0 One of the first things that occurred when I returned was that many unannounced summer camps came into the visitor\u2019s center which is always an experience.\u00a0 Yet, one of the most progressive things I did was creating new signs for me shoreline erosion tank.\u00a0 This time one of my mentors Mark Farley and I created 2 different signs compared to one long sign.\u00a0 One sign said \u201cThe Erosion Problem\u201d with photos of me showing how to use the paddle to create waves and see the erosion of the sand.\u00a0 The second sign said \u201cThe Erosion Solution\u201d and gave the visitors a chance to try 1 of 3 different protective strategies for beach\/shoreline erosion.\u00a0 These new larger signs seem to be working well for now.\u00a0 I can already see a difference in the behavior of children and families when they come to wave tank; instead of sand castle building, they actually read the sings and follow the directions.<\/em><\/p>\n The visitor\u2019s center also had some crazy moments.\u00a0 We had Micro A and Micro B tanks overflow into the VC overnight and leave a lake in the surrounding area an inch deep. \u00a0That lake was an interesting mess to clean, but created a wonderful learning moment.\u00a0 I was able to watch the aquarists and learn how to put on new filter bags as well as rework the tanks.\u00a0 I was challenged to follow the pipes and figure out where the water went such as the outflow and inflow pipes.\u00a0 Other crazy moments that occurred were people trying to put their whole hand inside of anemones or trying to crawl inside of the touch tank to touch the different fish.\u00a0 While all of this was going on I also got to have some spectacular moments in the VC.<\/em><\/p>\n These spectacular moments occurred when the Aquarists took me under their wing and showed me some impressive things.\u00a0 First, I got to see a fish necropsy which was highly informative and taught me new dissections skills.\u00a0 I was also taught how to kill invasive coral apitasia with lemon juice.\u00a0 I was able to inject a few micrometers of lemon juice into each invasive apitasia, which kills it almost instantaneously.\u00a0 The apitasia tries as a defensive mechanism to spit its own guts out, but the lemon juice is too acidic.\u00a0 I also learned through this process how to siphon a tank and change out the water while balancing the acidity in the water with baking soda, thus making the seawater more neutral.\u00a0 Yet, the most spectacular thing I learned with the aquarists was how to feed all the animals in the Hatfield Marine Science Center.\u00a0 I learned how and what to feed each animal except the octopus in the visitor\u2019s center, which took a long time but was completely worth it.\u00a0 The amount of knowledge I learned during that time was amazing and I will not forget anytime soon.\u00a0 This entire summer has been a learning experience, but definitely a fun one that I shall remember for the rest of my life.”<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Our Summer Scholars’ time is drawing to a close at the end of the month, so we’re hearing some final words, at least for the moment, from some of them, starting with Diana: “These past weeks have been filled with things that I never thought would happen and have surprised me in the most spectacular… Continue reading