My name is Blue Smith, and I'm currently carrying out my Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Internship at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab's Discovery Hall Programs. I'm originally from Montgomery, Alabama, and just recently graduated from the University of Montevallo with a bachelor's degree in biology.
I've always known science was the path for me. For as long as I can remember, I've been outdoorsy and with strong cultural connections to nature, it wasn't something I ever considered shying away from.
This is my first position as an educator, and it has been awesome with the added bonus of being something I could get a reality check on. I've come to terms with my desire to be an educator a lot more recently than others in the game. This internship has really helped me get my foot in the door and helped me sort out all the things I want and don't want to pursue later on.
Getting a chance to refine my own career path in an environment I can really have fun in and enjoy has been a huge relief and wonderful experience because of how it prepared me for the things I hadn't really thought about yet.
One of my main concerns was being unsure of which age groups I'd want to work with. Discovery Hall Programs luckily cater to all ages, so I've had the chance to work on programs that are elementary-based all the way up to teacher workshops. Getting to see the ins and outs of class preparations, classroom management and all sorts of unique experiences you run into while teaching really helped me see that I do have a place within environmental education specifically.
I think that the Dauphin Island Sea Lab and the Gulf Coast itself was a great place for me to do it. The complexity of coastal ecosystems gives you tons to work with and talk about. It is really hard to not find something to nerd out about somewhere within our curriculum, and I'm happy to say I think our students would agree.
We incorporate so many different aspects of STEM all together, experiences can get really personalized for each participant. One of my favorite things to see is that exact moment when a student finds their niche and how it immediately starts to inspire them as they ask more questions and try to learn more.
I'm super thankful for this position because of how it has helped redirect what I want to do next. I think that environmental education is definitely in my future, but the classroom types and curriculum I see myself working in have definitely changed from what I originally thought. I initially believed that I would enjoy demonstrations and in-class lessons the most, but I found activities and hands-on learning to be much more thrilling than I expected.
I think this program has created a really positive but realistic experience of the ups and downs of teaching and that it has given me resources I can use to mitigate the downs and capitalize the ups.