I am now nearly at the halfway point of my internship at the Baruch Marine Field Laboratory and am growing to love it more every day. I have not only learned far more about the lab and workplace setting but also what furthering my education could look like. Through this internship I have been able to talk to people from a variety of different backgrounds and different stages of life and that has been extraordinarily helpful in me figure out what I want to do with my future and be sure of any decisions I should make. I’ve grown to be much more confident with my lab and field skills and just overall as a STEM professional which is something that is completely invaluable.
In the past couple of weeks I have gotten a wide array of field and lab experiences including dissecting MANY fish, kick netting for shrimp, and I have even figured out how to walk through the pluff mud, which is a daunting task. While here I am assisting with numerous different projects including one where we are analyzing the gut contents of small fish in order to look at the different trophic levels within the estuary. We are also taking muscle samples off these fish to test the stable isotopes in order to determine what they are primarily eating. We have also started a new intertidal creek project to look at the nursery value of the creeks that get cut off from the main channels at low tide. This project includes seining, which I discussed in my earlier blog post, kick netting, which looks like a smaller version of a seine that one person is able to use by themselves, and identifying many different fish and shrimp in the field. This week, I am traveling to Georgia in order to assist the collection of the fish for the gut analysis projecting. While here we will be sampling a total of six different creeks at two separate locations.
During my time here I have also had the opportunity to become much more familiar with Excel which is a very useful tool to have experience with. This is not only a tool to be used in science but for any future job I should have. Being able to have professional experience in Excel will help make my application stronger so I am a better candidate for jobs.
My life in the Georgetown/Pawleys Island area has been absolutely filled to the brim. There has yet to be a time here where there is nothing to do or I feel bored. The other interns and I have been getting extremely close and been staying busy by either going to the beach, or visiting local shops, or catching and cooking fresh crab. This internship has given me so many new life long friends from all over the U.S. and that is something I will never forget and forever be grateful for. I never expected to find so many people that are so genuinely kind and fun people that I get to work and live with. Even though we have only been together for a short period of time and get to be with each other for even shorter period of time, I feel as though some of them I will still be talking to 20+ years from now.