Each spring, summer and fall, the N.C. Aquarium at Fort Fisher accepts applications for interns in aquariology,
education, horticulture, administration and design. Interns at the Aquarium
learn about the animals, how to take care of them and how to educate people
about them. These opportunities supply valuable work
experience needed to begin a career. This summer, there are three interns in the Education Department. Here
they share about their experiences.
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| Ellie, Education Intern at NCAFF |
"My name is Ellie and I am one
of the Education interns. I study marine biology at the University of North
Carolina Wilmington and am about to enter my junior year. I have many duties as an intern, such as presenting
programs and educating the public at one of our four exhibits: bald eagle, sea
turtle, invertebrate touch tank and shark touch tank. In addition, I have a project I must complete
by the end of the summer. My project
this summer is to share with guests an education cart about deep sea animals
and how they live. I have always loved
the deep sea, and it amazes me how little we truly know about the animals that
live there. This internship offers a
great opportunity for me to learn how to help people better understand the
ocean, how we can conserve our oceans and help the important creatures living
in them. There is something incredibly
special about seeing the look on someone’s face when they realize they can
touch a stingray or when you teach them something they didn't know before."
"My name is Johanna. Before I
came here as an intern, I was a volunteer in the Aquarium’s Education department.
I enjoyed teaching visitors so much I decided to come back. I became an intern
because I am studying Biological Oceanography at North Carolina State University
and I wanted more experience in my field. I've learned about guest interaction and also a lot about the animals at the Aquarium. I've also
trained on how to work with certain animals used for animal encounters and programs.
All of this knowledge will be really helpful in the future and it has given
me many new skills. During my internship, I created a dive cart that teaches visitors how to put on SCUBA equipment and about what each
piece does. This was my favorite part about my internship because I was able to
teach others. I’m really thankful for this position at the Aquarium because it
is exciting and very helpful for me to be in an environment where there is
something new to learn every day."
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| Nichole, Education Intern at NCAFF |
"My name is Nichole and I am
currently enrolled in the Biology program at the University of North Carolina
Wilmington. I became an education intern because I wanted to be
more involved in the Aquarium and learn more about this particular career
field. Environmental education is a career path I have considered and this was
a way for me to see what it would be like. There are many parts of the job I
enjoy, but my favorite things to do are feeding programs. The public loves to
watch the daily animal feedings. It’s
fun to use that time to teach visitors about those animals and make the
environmental connection for them. Each intern
is working on a project and mine is constructing a lesson plan for math and
science using information about cold stunned sea turtles. This lesson plan will
be for kindergarten to fifth grades and go along with a larger series of lesson
plans that will be available for all teachers to use."
Interested in interning at the
Aquarium? Check out the internship page of our website for more information and learn how to apply.
