3-4-11
COMS
My first time driving in Boston, I had woken-up bright and early to make my way to the Boston Public Library in order to attend the Career Opportunities in the Marine Sciences Symposium (‘COMS’ for short).
This was the first event I attended as the 2011 recipient of the Boston Sea Rovers’ Frank Scalli Annual Summer Internship. COMS is a program, sponsored by the Boston Sea Rovers, geared towards expanding hishschool students’ understanding of the world’s oceans. Before the symposium started I was put to work, along with several other past interns, Kim and Sarah, and Amy Giannotti’s daughter, Allie. We quickly worked out a system, and began folding and handing-out all the programs to the students.
Once it was time for the program to start, I grabbed a seat and listened to all of the amazing people talk about their stories, jobs, and experiences. We heard from Amy Giannotti about cave research and the Cambrian Foundation, Chris Diperna about remotely operated submerisibles, Sarah Taylor about her job as the senior aquarist at the New England Aquarium, George Buckly and Vin Malkoski about their work with horseshoe crabs through the Mass. Division of Marine Fisheries, Paul Cater Deaton about the invasive lion fish and underwater cinematography, and Sarah Brightman about her experiences as the BSR Frank Scalli intern last year. I was floored to actually be able to see the diversity of jobs and paths that had all originated from a love of the ocean.
After the speakers finished, I found myself being called onto the stage, along with all of the past Scalli interns present. Now the students knew about the internship, so each of us was introduced, and after some clapping, allowed to sit back down. Soon after, the symposium ended, and then it was lunch time! Turns out that there is a restaurant inside the Boston Library, and I was got to have lunch there with all of the speakers. I felt extremely honored to be at the same table talking with these people after finding out what they do, and how they got to where they are. I couldn’t believe how interested they all were in me. When lunch was over, I felt as though it had been a real privilege to meet all of these amazing people, and I hope I get to work with some of them this summer.
Speaker Reception at Topsfield Commons
After COMS, I had some free time until the evening. Then, it was time for the speaker’s reception at Topsfield Commons. I met a lot of very interesting and inspiring people. Kim Malkoski (2008 Intern) and Sarah Brightman (2010 Intern) both did wonderful jobs of helping me to network around the room and meet as many people as possible. At one point during the night, the newest Sea Rovers were awarded their black badges, and one of them was Kate Douglas! The first Frank Scalli Intern! She has been working extremely hard ever since her internship to help the Boston Sea Rovers, and her efforts were rewarded. Congrats on coming full circle Kate!
After a lot of applause and pictures, I was surprised to find that Dave Morton was calling me up onto the stage. When I went up, he announced me as being the 2011 Frank Scalli Intern, and gave me my shiny blue name tag (which I am NOT allowed to lose without fear of calling down upon myself the almighty wrath of…everyone). So, Intern Rule Number One: don’t lose your name tag. All in all, the entire day and night were amazing, and have left me overwhelmed with possibilities. It’s time for me to hit the hay now. Tomorrow promises to be another whirlwind of opportunities.