ExxonMobil Fellowships: Summer jobs with career aspirations

For the fourth year in a row, ExxonMobil has provided three summer job fellowships at the Sea Lab for students interested in learning about the “business” of marine science education and research.

In summer 2003, Nick Norwood, a history and biology major at Athens State University, worked with Sea Lab Executive Director Dr. George F. Crozier on
coastal policy management. Staci Lewis, a tropical marine ecology major from Salem University, joined the research efforts of Dr. Richard B. Aronson. And Courtney Pike, an English and public relations major from Spring Hill College, plunged into the communications frenzy of summer school with Lisa Young, Public Relations Director at the Sea Lab.
  
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Staci Lewis collecting mollusks in the salt marsh.
In addition to taking four classes, Norwood worked with Senior Research Associate Cherie Arceneaux on formulating a carrying capacity survey for waterways management. Norwood spent a large amount of time in the field, issuing these surveys and interviewing people around the marinas and the Gulf Shores/Orange Beach area. The surveys addressed urban growth patterns, controlled versus uncontrolled growth patterns, and human impact on the environment. He said, “You name it, and we’re trying to tackle it.” Asked about his summer experience, he declared, “The staff is phenomenal. I soaked up loads of information merely by listening.”

Staci Lewis faced blazing temperatures and biting mosquitoes in her research work on mollusks for Dr. Aronson and his Ph.D. student Ryan Moody, but she always managed to come back with renewed enthusiasm for her future plans in marine biology. So much so that she sought and gained a position as a marine technician in Dr. Aronson’s lab at the completion of her fellowship. After measuring hundreds of snails, tromping through muddy salt marshes, and gingerly picking irritable crabs from traps all summer, she has decided to pursue a graduate degree in marine science. Her exposure to the many types of students and educators at the Sea Lab, ranging from middle school students to prominent professors, has convinced her that, “In order to reach people and motivate them, you must connect on their level to help them understand why you’re so passionate. You can motivate a lot of people when you’re passionate about your work.”

Meanwhile, Courtney Pike was a familiar and friendly face to the hundreds of summer school participants as she accompanied them on boat rides, forest walks, beach excursions and much more, always with camera and notebook in hand. She learned that it is necessary to be a “master-of-all-trades” as she took photos, developed feature stories, conducted interviews, wrote press releases and contacted news editors.
One of Pike’s favorite moments was when Channel 10 News visited the Sea Lab. Lisa Young lead Pike through the process step-by-step and told her all the “do’s and don’ts” of handling the news. “This on-site experience is the type of learning that I thrive on, “she declared, “ the type that you can’t learn from a textbook.”
And that, after all, is the concept behind these ExxonMobil Summer Fellowships: the textbook will never replace the knowledge gained through first-hand experience.

-- Courtney Pike