Today I had the most amazing experience; I had a meet and greet with Lisa, one of the dolphin trainers at The Seas in Epcot! Let me start this off by saying that there are only five, yes FIVE, dolphin trainers that work for the Walt Disney World Resort, so having the opportunity to meet her and talk to her is truly amazing!
Let me back up a bit by explaining how I got here, and then I'll tell you all about my time with Lisa! So, for those of you who don't know me, I'm a conservation biology major and a psychology minor and my goal is to work with animals after I graduate, hopefully in the animal training/behavior field. Obviously Disney is the dream, which is why I am here right now, but really I would love to work at any zoo or aquarium. So, that being said, about a year ago over winter break I went to work with my dad to help him file papers and all that kind of fun office stuff. Long story short, I ended up having lunch with some of my dad's coworkers and telling them about my school experience and what my plans for the future were. Lisa is his coworker's niece, and she is a dolphin trainer at The Seas. She was kind enough to put me in contact with Lisa, and I have been speaking with her since about this time last year. We spoke on the phone about breaking into the marine mammal/training field and she offered me advice about where to go with my career and education path. Then, when I got accepted to the DCP, I sent her an email telling her I would be living in Florida for 7 months. Since I've been in Orlando, we've been in contact, and we were able to set up a time for me to go meet with her at work and learn a little more about her job and what life is like at The Seas!
Flash forward to today, when I met Lisa at The Seas for the very first time! She was truly amazing, and did more than I would have ever imagined. First, she gave me my own personal tour of the aquarium from the guest's perspective. We talked about all the different kinds of fish, how they are collected, their care, and she gave me some fun facts about the aquarium. Fun fact: The entire Epcot ball could fit inside the aquarium tank and there would still be room for someone to swim around the entire ball!
Then, we went backstage and I got to see what the facilities look like from a Cast Member and trainer perspective! I was completely shocked by how huge the aquarium truly was (you can't tell from the aquarium windows). I even got to go see the dolphins while they were resting and learn about dolphin enrichment and training, which is something I am SOOOO interested in.
Finally, we went back on stage and talked about breaking into the field. I asked Lisa how she got to where she was, and she said it's all about working hard, networking, and of course, a little bit of luck. I asked her what kinds of things I should be doing to get myself prepared for a career in the field, and she said to volunteer and get as many internships as possible, because internships turn into jobs! Luckily for me, I'm already scuba certified, which is a huge step in the right direction, since most internships/jobs require you to be scuba certified to work there. I also asked about the professional internship (Marine Mammals) and what kind of stuff I could do to best prepare for the application process. It's an EXTREMELY competitive internship, but it's a dream of mine and the advice she gave me was great and will hopefully help me reach my goal!
After meeting with Lisa, I stuck around to watch the dolphin training session downstairs and I got to talk to one of the professional interns, Jenna. She told me about how she landed the experience, and to just keep volunteering, working hard, and wished me good luck with everything! Also, the dolphins were amazing. The dolphin I watched, Calvin, was doing a test where he saw a moving picture and then was shown three pictures, and he had to choose the correct one that he originally saw. The whole idea of the training/research is to try to see how dolphins think/learn so that we can better understand them.
I am so thankful for my time with Lisa. She is an amazing person to talk to, and truly went above and beyond with her time with me. I'm not kidding when I say that I was hoping we could grab a cup of coffee or something, so imagine my surprise when she offered to take me around the entire aquarium!! I had a great day and learned so much that I definitely will put to use when it's time to apply for internships in the future.
So, thanks to Lisa for all of her help, and thanks to all of you for reading this and joining me on my journey! If you have any specific questions, PLEASE feel free to ask me, I love answering questions about my time here!
No comments:
Post a Comment