Being a graduate student at OSU's Hatfield Marine Science Center has its perks! For instance, the HMSC campus has an awesome Visitor's Center! During the summer of 2023, Olivia Boisen, Dr. Brander, and I put together tabling activities for the Visitor's Center guests. This included using tape to visualize microfibers and checking their own clothing tags to identify if they were wearing natural or synthetic textiles. We also displayed a pretend "washing machine" demonstrating how fibers breakdown from textiles, intervention strategies for reducing microfiber waste from laundry, and several other informational materials. I had such a fun time speaking with visitors that I eventually turned this into a monthly event and organized different lab members to run this table with me! We also featured these activities at HMSC's Marine Science Day (2024)!

To formally develop outreach connected directly to my research, I applied to be an OMSI Science Communication Fellow. With the assistance of 2 OMSI Scholarships, I was able to complete this fellowship program. This involved attending 4 workshops to develop our tabling activity and at least 3 annual tabling events, often including at OMSI itself! I had an amazing time exercising a different facet of creativity to design a tabling event demonstrating baleen whale feeding with a microplastics twist appropriate for ALL ages. My favorite part of these events was watching kids become fully invested in my activity and just overall be so curious and invested in my research topic! Acting as a "scientist" for these events also helped me more fully own that identity.

Dedicated and driven, I found a way to volunteer my Fridays at The Marine Mammal Center (TMMC) Monterey Bay Operations (MBO) without transportation, where I experienced the importance of communication and leadership in high-pressure situations. Before I knew it, I was one of the most experienced volunteers on my team in my seal and sea lion medical and husbandry abilities. Night feeds for the day’s rescues involve small groups of people entering a pen with one of the rescued animals to restrain, tube feed, and provide fluids. My supervisor often placed me in the position of orchestrating, leading, and teaching new volunteers in pens. Because we work with wild animals, active and calm communication is key; we enter the pen with a plan in mind but are alert and ready to adapt.

I jumped at the opportunity to mentor a small group of underrepresented high school students in completing and presenting STEM projects through the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Watsonville Area Teens Conserving Habitats (WATCH) program. I used this as an opportunity to discuss the college application process and the transition into college life. Having gone through the college application process without counseling or parental assistance, I felt I could serve as a role model as a student pursuing a STEM degree at a four-year institution.

Working as a UROC writing fellow taught me about teaching, mentoring, and my own writing. After years of completing research applications of my own, I was funded to facilitate weekly individual and small group meetings, provide constructive feedback, and encourage student participation with UROC scholars to develop professional writing and presentation strategies. During this semester, I also participated in weekly professional development meetings to learn teaching and peer-review strategies. I learned to provide valuable feedback on writing and to adapt these activities for online platforms (Zoom, Goreact) due to COVID-19. I am continuing to build my mentorship skills and am gaining workshop/curriculum design experience this summer.