Internship
I got the amazing opportunity to intern at Birch Aquarium at Scripps in the month of May of 2018. It was a four week educational internship. Birch Aquarium is an amazing institute with creative and beautiful exhibits that stand for an incredible mission. You can find out more about this by clicking on the logo above.
There are so many departments to Birch Aquarium, and I got the privileged to work behind the scenes, with the Aquarist. These aquarist are an amazing team who work on making sure the fish are healthy and well. They do a wide variety of work from daily husbandry tasks to things that are not so daily, such as creating a new tank and exhibit. Everyday at Birch Aquarium looked a little different, which I absolutely loved. Some days called for a trip to the beach to collect sand crabs, others are aquaplaning a new home for fish, and others were taking care of newborn seahorses. Everyone works together in this office so seamlessly, each aquarist was so unique and brought in a different personality s and specialties, yet the work they do is cohesive, and they are always supporting one another.
I was working specifically under Fern Nosratpour, who was the associate curator and one of the aquarist at Birch Aqarium. His job consisted of supervising the other aquarist, along with Leslee HUFHEJ. He was also an outreach person and advocate for Birch Aquarium, conducting a lot of tours and answering many emails.
My job, as a husbandry volunteer was preforming everyday tasks. I was trained, then practiced extensive husbandry skills such as brine shrimp harvesting, jellyfish and seahorse feeding/cleaning. I also did other tasks to help keep the facility clean, such as cleaning tank glass, washing off filter socks, and more. Other tasks I did were not so daily, such as aquaplaning some tanks and help acclimate new fish into them.
There are so many departments to Birch Aquarium, and I got the privileged to work behind the scenes, with the Aquarist. These aquarist are an amazing team who work on making sure the fish are healthy and well. They do a wide variety of work from daily husbandry tasks to things that are not so daily, such as creating a new tank and exhibit. Everyday at Birch Aquarium looked a little different, which I absolutely loved. Some days called for a trip to the beach to collect sand crabs, others are aquaplaning a new home for fish, and others were taking care of newborn seahorses. Everyone works together in this office so seamlessly, each aquarist was so unique and brought in a different personality s and specialties, yet the work they do is cohesive, and they are always supporting one another.
I was working specifically under Fern Nosratpour, who was the associate curator and one of the aquarist at Birch Aqarium. His job consisted of supervising the other aquarist, along with Leslee HUFHEJ. He was also an outreach person and advocate for Birch Aquarium, conducting a lot of tours and answering many emails.
My job, as a husbandry volunteer was preforming everyday tasks. I was trained, then practiced extensive husbandry skills such as brine shrimp harvesting, jellyfish and seahorse feeding/cleaning. I also did other tasks to help keep the facility clean, such as cleaning tank glass, washing off filter socks, and more. Other tasks I did were not so daily, such as aquaplaning some tanks and help acclimate new fish into them.
Internship Assignments
Photo essay
Transcribed Interview
One of our assignments was interviewing our mentor. I interviewed Fern Nusratpour, associate curator at Birch Aquarium and one of my mentors. I learned how he became interested in Marine Biology and life advice for high school , college and more.
Internship Project!
My project was becoming a jellyfish expert while I was at Birch Aquarium! I learned how to feed, siphon and take care of them. I'm bringing this knowledge back to my school and class by setting up a Jellyfish Exhibit at High Tech High's Ichthyology program.