Hi, I’m Savanna Finley and I want to teach the world about how amazing, diverse, and important the ocean is to us, humans! I was born and raised in the Northwest Florida region (think Destin but a tad more to the west) where I grew up constantly in and around the water. I didn’t know I wanted to be a marine biologist until I was older but I definitely knew I wanted to always be around the water. From the time I was small I was obsessed with all things ocean: mermaids, fish, sharks you name it! Proof of childhood love here:
As I grew up I remember the first time I watched Jaws, I think it really rekindled my love of sharks (weird I know) and made me into more of an advocate for them, to this day I still love cheesy shark movies. In high school I took my first ever Marine Biology class, I remember my teacher, Ms. Daniels, and how passionate she was about biology and how she made me want to share my passion with everyone. I still think one of the reasons I switched from an elementary education major to marine biology was her inspiring me. I finished my undergrad in Marine Biology at the University of West Florida in 2019 where I discovered I had no interest in running stats and sitting in front of a computer all day looking at data. So I took my passion for the oceans and my skills talking to people and teaching and meshed them together.
My goal today is to take scientific research on all sorts of marine topics, and turn it into activities and lessons that translate well to the public, so we can all be better ocean stewards. I finished a Masters of Education in Curriculum and Instruction of Biology in 2021 at the University of South Florida, where I learned how to better hone my prior teaching knowledge and develop more professional strategies for how to make the public more informed about our oceans.
I’m also a high school marine science teacher for Manatee County Schools in south Florida. One of the best things about this job is getting to build and design all of my own curriculum and test it out on my students who are more than willing to accept the chaos that is constant new labs and activities. Through my school I have been able to design field study trips, build an amazing marine science club, and observe how my students adapt, change, and learn.
Currently, I am working on my Ph.D. in Curriculum and instruction for Science Education. My focus is on teaching experiential learning in the classroom, and I am working on a project that investigates student’s increased sense of place and ecological worldview when given the opportunity to collect and care for local estuarine animals.
