Women in STEM Day 2023

When I think back to when I decided to become a marine biologist, I fondly remember my high school marine science teacher. She was a biologist, just getting out of school and looking for a place to grow for a while. She took on this class and tried so hard to make it wonderful and engaging, bringing in old colleagues of hers from FWC to show the class interesting local animals, and having people come speak to our class. I was enamored. I told her I think instead of my original career plan of teacher with marine biology interest, I wanted to flip the script and become a marine biologist with a special interest in education. She was so happy, I remember her talking with me about my future and how she knew I would excel.

When I started college, I found out there was a shark researcher on campus. I needed a way in, so I tried to just be in the right place at the right time. Eventually I was encouraged to just email her, so I did. She emailed right back and invited me to join the meetups of her lab group. I came to every single one and enjoyed every bit of information I could squeeze out of it. Before summer break, she told me about the American Elasmobranch Society conference and mentioned if I could come, I should. She said it would be great to be able to see what a scientific conference is like. I dropped everything and went to New Orleans with her and her team, ate with them and spent whatever time I could with them. If she had not got a better job offer at another college, I probably would’ve worked with her throughout my undergraduate career. 

When I started to look for internships in science education, I emailed the director of the Navarre Beach Marine Science Station out of the blue. She wanted to meet me in person before accepting me as a summer intern, so I drove to Navarre after class one day to meet her. She took to me right away and asked me to spend a couple days working a spring break camp as a trial run for the summer, so she could see what I could do. I worked hard and taught as much as I knew to several third through fifth graders. She told me I was in, and I had something going for me. I worked all summer for her at the station and she has propelled me forward wherever possible since then. I still ask her for advice and send her new lessons whenever I find a cool one.

In graduate school, I stumbled upon a graduate certificate for “Teaching and Communicating Broader Impacts of Ocean Science.” I emailed the advising professor for the certificate and my own advisor to see if I could work this into my degree somehow and they both were happy to make that work. The advising professor also happened to be the one who taught every class in the certificate program. She was a force to be reckoned with and I was thrilled to be learning from her. One of the classes was working in her decades-long program “ Oceanography Camp for Girls”. I was able to take off long enough to do the training the during the program and the next year came back to teach at the program. It was truly unlike any other camp I had seen before. She worked so hard to make sure those girls had opportunities to be a part of something wonderful. Her day to day was making these girls into women in STEM. I aspire to be her one day.

I want to spend this year’s Women in STEM Day thanking a few of the women who made it possible for me to be where I am today. Ashley Daniels, Charlene Mauro, Dr. Toby Daly-Engel, and Dr. Teresa Greely.

I have much of my current career in STEM and science education thanks to these wonderful women. I myself try to be as open and passionate about what I teach as these wonderful ladies. We can and should continue to help lift women up into this field as there is a much needed space for us.