UWF (week 1)

Our first official week of research and field work took place at UWF in Pensacola. I had never been here before, even though my sister is an alumni from UWF, so I was very excited to get a chance to experience this city.

I found the first day in the field so incredibly interesting because everything I learned was all new information to me. We studied stream ecology and visited 4 different streams, starting from the most impacted to the least impacted by development and human activity. The main lesson that I took away from this day was that in order to fix a large problem, you must first pinpoint the exact origin of that problem, which is most likely minute in comparison. We are starting to see some water and life quality issues in the Gulf, but the ocean is so vast that it is difficult to wrap your mind around a solution to helping it because there are so many factors. However, primary streams are the first source of water that makes its way to the Gulf of Mexico so we have to focus on fixing these streams before we can fix any larger body of water. I think one of the main reasons I loved this day so much is because our instructor for the day was so knowledgeable, experienced, passionate, and inspiring which ignited a fire in me again that lasted the entire week (and still is there). It was just the perfect first day to start a whole trip of new knowledge and experiences.

The rest of the week was just as amazing as the first day. From performing several water qualities tests all over Pensacola and its surround area, to taking seine samples in multiple areas, to doing late night sea turtle nest surveying, to looking at phytoplankton under microscopes, it was all beyond wonderful. I find that it is hard to put this experience into words because it's difficult to express how incredible the activities we are involved in actually are.

My favorite part of this class so far is the people. I will admit that I was a little intimidated at first because I am the youngest student in the class. However, I cannot stress enough how much I have learned already from everyone and I am so grateful that I am gaining this knowledge at such an early time in my undergraduate studies. It's amazing to be around peers that are very like-minded to me, as well as getting to know such influential professors and scientists. I can't wait to see what next week has in store for us!