Athens, Ga. – Georgia Sea Grant has awarded one-year marine education internships to four recent graduates from across the country. The 2011-12 interns will serve as educators for the Marine Extension Service, a public service and outreach unit of the University of Georgia.
The following individuals were selected from an international pool of applicants and began training at MAREX this fall:
Jaclyn Miller (University of North Carolina at Wilmington) from Lancaster, Pa.
Catharine Parker (Eckerd College) from Newark, Del.
Kelly Muench (Coastal Carolina University) from Marlton, N.J.
Ashley Powenski (University of New England) from Orchard Park, N.Y.
The internship program promotes the mission of both Georgia Sea Grant and MAREX, and contributes to educational activities that support environmental and economic vitality and encourage stewardship in coastal Georgia.
MAREX offers formal and informal educational programs focused on the ecology of Georgia’s estuaries, coastal islands and offshore waters. The interns spend 50 weeks teaching at the Marine Education Center and Aquarium on Skidaway Island, Ga., the education branch of MAREX.
The interns will work with and educate more than 30,000 students, teachers and the general public during the year. In addition, they will participate in outreach by judging science fair projects, teaching during science nights at local schools and field-testing educational curricula.
The Georgia Sea Grant Internship Program began in 1987 and is a nationally recognized marine education program, particularly under the auspices of Maryellen Timmons and Anne Lindsay.
The Marine Extension Service facilities on Skidaway Island include a public aquarium, teaching labs, a lecture hall, touch tank rooms, a 80-person dormitory, cafeteria, docks and boats for teaching/trawling, an aquaculture research facility and access to barrier island field sites.
Georgia Sea Grant, which is part of a national program within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration channels funds into colleges, universities and research institutes throughout Georgia to support local research, education and outreach to bring a balanced approach toward land use, economic development and ecosystem health on the coast.
For more information on the Georgia Sea Grant Internship Program or the UGA Marine Extension Service, see http://marex.uga.edu.
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