by Adam McWilliams

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This last week we have all started to focus more on our research and were introduced to the different programs that CEI provides. We first started with aquaculture. Marie, who is in charge of the aquaculture team, taught us how the fish (cobia) are fed in the cage and what they are fed with. Immediately after that we were introduced to the flats program where we went to Starved Creek to catch bonefish and mojarra for experiments back at the lab. The final group we were presented with was the sharks program. They gave us a presentation on shark taxonomy and the general anatomy of these animals.

Once we were introduced to all the programs, the three of us voted on which topic was the most interesting and then we were each assigned to a different team. I now get to work with the flats team, Philip gets to work with aquaculture, and Calvin is working with sharks. We have all started with our teams in the field, and we will all start our independent research projects shortly.

On Tuesday, we began our tutoring sessions with six students at the Deep Creek Middle School. Many DCMS students choose to pursue boarding school in the U.S. for their secondary education, and we are supporting them through their preparation for this exam and interviews over the next five weeks. This gives us a unique opportunity and an authentic experience connecting with the local community and them the ability to succeed. We are not only challenging the kids, but we are also challenging ourselves – now I understand how hard teaching actually is!

Until next week!