Jeremy & Animal Care

I like the husbandry duities. I was able to help a sea turtle by taking them outside for sun, which very few people can say they have done. Bird Rounds aren't the most exciting thing, but it is easy. I would like to be able to do a little more husbandry duties like making food and feeding it to the animals.

- Jeremy Kitzmann

Hillary & Animal Care

I didn't think it would be very interesting to do the husbandry shifts. I thought we would just be making bird food, but it is way cooler. I got to do the Waddle Wagon with Jeremy and Kaitlyn and I got to drive the wagon! The penguins were hilarious. They were running around and acting crazy. I could not stop laughing. I really love intereacting with the penguins!

- Hillary Evans

Ka'la & Animal Care

I never thought that I would be able to be up close and personal with a real penguin. The is a great experience, feeding the penguins and the other birds. I've enjoyed going behind the scenes and helping the husandry staff.

I also like being a chauffer for the penguins during the Waddle Wagon. Seeing the looks on the children's (and parent's) faces is priceless.

- Ka'la Drayton

Week 1

This week went extremely fast! I'm very proud of all the interns. They started the summer with A LOT to learn and they have done a fabulous job. Here's a list of the things we completed the first week of the summer:

• Touch Tank
  
• Shark Cart Programs


• Sea Turtle Cart Programs


• Turtle Animal Programs


• Exhibit Guiding


• Watch education shows


• Complete 2 worksheets

This list may not seem huge, but considering we have 60 exhibiting, over 6000 animals and 10,000 plants, they have done a wonderful job coming in to work ready to learn and help. I know they all really enjoy the touch tank. At the touch tank they have been able to get to know our volunteers. The volunteers have stepped right in to help make the interns feel comfortable.

My favorite part of a new group of interns is watching them go from being very apprehensive the first day or two to becoming much more comfortably and independent.

Next on the list of training will be a lot of husbandry shifts, helping out with animal care. They will be trained on things such as making touch tank food, helping feed the penguins, cleaning out alligator exhibits, preping bird diets and completing afternoon bird rounds. This is an exciting part of the job for many of the interns because many of them hope to go into the field of zoology or veterinary medicine. This will give them a lot of experience around animals. Not to mention they will begin their snake roaming shifts as well!

We are lucky to have another great group of high school students this summer. I look forward to the next several weeks!! I plan to post my favorite picture of each week. The one posted this time is of Carlee dressed as the sea turtle with her friends Ka'la and Angela.
Come visit the blog again soon for more updates on our summer!

-Jaime

Erin Peifer - 1st week

My first week was challenging, but rewarding. I feel much more comfortable now that I'm remembering a lot of the information and getting to know people. I really enjoy working in the touch tank and telling the kids and curious parents about the unique sea creatures.

The cart programs are more challenging, but I'm getting more comfortable with the sea turtle cart. It's a lot of fun, so I'm looking forward to next week.

-Erin Peifer

Jalonna Robinson - 1st week

My first week was awesome!!! I really enjoyed meetin the volunteers and staff workers. my favorite part of each day is when I am at the touch tank and when I do animal programs.

The touch tank is awesome. I love it when the stingrays act like they're going to jump out of the water. It's extremely funny how they surprise people. The animals programs are great too. I get to take out an animal and let guests touch them and ask me questions about them.

Overall, my first week was the best, full of knowledge and fun!! I have the best job ever :)

-Jalonna Robinson

Carlee Hennemann - 1st week

I thought that the first week was great. I'm new on all the information, but I found plenty of help from Jaime and Kathy, the volunteers and college interns. I enjoy the excitement of all the new questions I get everyday, which keeps me broadening my knowledge. Whenever I need help, there is always someone right there to answer. Everyone here at the Aquarium has been fabulous to work with.

Of course, I love the sea turtle costume as well. The kids love it and I love to take pictures with everyone. It's made me a star! I can already tell this is the start of a fantastic job that I will want to wake up and go to.

-Carlee Hennemann

Ka'la Drayton - 1st week

Well...the first week was a week that I will always remember. As soon as I walked in I felt like part of the team with my uniform shirt, name tag and fob. Work started off with three of us interns trying to find our way around the Aquarium answering visitor's questions like, "Where is the restroom", "Where is the albino alligator" and "Do we have to go outside for the 4D theatre"?

This whole week was filled with curious children...and adults at the touch tank and at the animal programs. The days went by fast as we talked about the different animals and plants and explained the information to others. I was excited and eager to get to work!

-Ka'la Drayton

Hillary Evans - 1st week

I'm not going to lie, I did not think it was going to be this much fun! I love being an intern. Playing in the touch tank with the little kids and doing animals programs are my favorite. Even though I don't know everything about the SC Aquarium, I'm learning new things about marine life and native organisms everyday.

-Hillary Evans

Jeremy Kitzmann - 1st week

Working as an intern is not what I expected it to be. I thought it would be much harder and I would have to name facts about every fish and all the animals the whole time. But, I have found that this is a mucn more relaxed atmosphere and it's ok to not know everything.

I have enjoyed my first week here so much. I love working in the touch tank, doing animal programs and answering questions that people ask. It has been very fun working here with the animals and dealing with new people every day. I don't think there is a more exciting job out there than the one I have now!

-Jeremy Kitzmann

Oddom Vong - 1st week

My first week was a blast! I have enjoyed every single moment that I've been here. There is never a dull moment. We always have something new to do every 30 minutes. My favorite place to work is the touch tank. I love helping the little kids overcome some of their fears and then touch the animals. Time always seems to fly by when I'm at the touch tank.

I guess time flies when you're having fun! I can't believe that this is a job, I consider it a hobby. Overall, my first week has been amazing and I would not trade it for anything!

-Oddom Vong

Kaitlyn Servello - 1st week

My first week as a High School Intern was amazing! I have loved everything so far and the tasks that we do are sooooo much fun. One of my favorite things is working in the touch tank because I like picking up the animals and interacting with a lot of kids.

Handling the snakes is pretty cool too. It was my first time holding a king snake! I feel like I have a lot more to learn though. I don't like not being able to answer everyone's questions :)

-Kaitlyn Servello

Angela Liu - 1st week

The first week was great! I learned so much this week about the exhibits, the touch tank and handling the animals. We also do cart programs that can be extremely fun. One day we composed a sea turtle song to sing to the children. Another intern even dressed up as a sea turtle!

The staff and volunteers here are wonderful to be around. They're all so nice and friendly. I know that I'll love working here for the rest of the summer.

-Angela Liu

Caitlin Smith - 1st week

My first week as a high school intern was pretty interesting and not as tough as I though it would be, even though I'm not good with all the stairwells. My favorite thing to be a part of is the touch tank. I enjoy interacting with all the children and being able to tell them interesting facts about the sea stars. I also enjoy being the one who gets them over their fear of holding a sea urchin.

The shark cart is really interesting with the games and puzzles you get to do with the younger children and I love the look they get when they unroll the Great White Shark rope and notice how large it is. That is one of those priceless moments!

I have enjoyed getting to know the volunteers. They are all very sweet and so nice. Another thing I like is being able to answer adult's questions. Normally teenagers feel intimidated that the adults will know more, but with some things I feel smarter and more advanced.

-Caitlin Smith

Team Building

2010 High School Interns!

On May 22 we took our new 2010 interns to Camp St. Christopher on Seabrook Island to do a team building class. They participated in many challenges, had to think outside the box and worked together to complete each fun task.

For example:

• They had to figure out how to get a tennis ball safely from point A to point B using 18 inch ramps without letting the ball hit the ground or stop - mission complete!
• They had to get the whole team accross an alligator infested swamp using small floating boards while 1/3 of the team was blind folded - mission complete!
• They had to discover a way to get all 10 interns onto a tilting seesaw without letting it get unstable and touch the ground - mission complete!
• And they had to get the whole group through a huge spider web without disturbing the spider - mission complete!

We had an awesome time playing the games and getting to know each other better. They will be spending several hours together for 8 weeks this summer. They need to be able to work well together and build on each other's strength as well as help fill in where there are weaknesses!

They'll be back in again this Saturday for their last training orientation before the summer work starts!

We have a great group :)

-Jaime