Coty's Reflection

This summer internship opportunity through the COSEE pacific partnerships/PRIME program was an amazing experience. I lived at the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, Oregon. I felt that I was treated with respect and taken care of by the program coordinators Itchung Cheung and Coral Gehrke.

During my time at Hatfield, I worked with the U.S. Fish and Wild Life Service for eight weeks helping wild life and refuge biologists conduct seabird surveys. My mentor Shawn Stephensen was an excellent person to work under. He always made sure that I was well equipt to conduct our surveys and that I was safe. I could also tell that he really cared about me learning proper data collection techniques. During my internship with USFWS I was was fourtunate enough to participate in several different surveys where I learned how to use different fieldwork skill sets.

My stay at the Hatfield student housing was a very plesant one. I felt comfortable in the appartment provided to me. The roomates I had were awesome and fun to live with. As the eight weeks of my internship passed on, I made several close friends that lived there in the housing. I admired how they all were very passionate about marine biology and excited about their internships. I was very sad to leave them when my 8 weeks was up.

Thank you for COSEE Pacific Partnerships, PRIME and USFWS for the amazing experience!