Weekly Reflection #2- St. Croix

This was my final week in St Croix and I am very grateful to have had this opportunity. This week I learned how to finalize the process of cleaning, fragging, and moving coral from the lab into the ocean. I also learned the process of getting one of the lab's rafts out to sea to test the water and then after, to place the coral substrates on it for launch. For the most part, I enjoyed working at the lab and facility.  If I return or get involved again, I will want to be certified in order to dive and enjoy the reefs first-hand. Everyone working for the Conservancy was welcoming and the coral research is interesting and important. I was not able to dive because I'm not certified so again, that was a little disappointing.  

Overall my short internship was a cool experience and while I learned a lot about the coral reefs and their challenge, I learned a tremendous amount about the island. Going into the project, I was unsure what to expect or even what I would be working on or with who. It surprised me how quickly they trusted me and how they welcomed me into the lab so quickly to help.  I realized that a lot of the people working there are actually volunteers (like me) looking to do something good for the earth. 

As I now reflect on the Coral and their project, the hardest part about their work is figuring out what exactly is killing the coral and not necessarily growing more to replant. Although, growing new coral to be replanted is a major part of their facility, finding the cure to the diseases by cross-breeding the new coral to help it gain immunity is the real scientific challenge. I benefited from working here because I got to experience and learn from a culture that's new to me; I learned how to work in a more professional environment than I have ever been in, and I successfully finished my first "internship".  At the end of my final day, they offered me to return and a have a job whenever I come back to the island.  This creates a potential summer job after my freshman year of college. 

In total this week I completed the rest of my seventy-five hours of work.  I helped finish all of the hurricane shelters for the tanks just in time for the season to begin. I am thankful to everyone at the Nature Conservancy and I highly recommend anyone reading this to visit their site and support the cause if you have the means.

https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/caribbean/virgin-islands/