Marine Mammal Institute: First Day

One of Discovery Place’s program specialists, Heather Heslep, headed up the East Coast this week on an adventure with Marine Mammal Institute. Heather was selected for the program because of her passion for education and work with the Museum. This post is the first of several that will follow her adventure as she learns more about marine mammals and climate change.

When opportunity knocks, do you answer? Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t, but as I sit here on a bus headed to Jennette’s Pier , I am glad that I chose to apply for the Marine Mammal Institute. I knew that this would be a once in a lifetime opportunity, so I submitted an application to be part of this 10-day, fully-funded professional development opportunity designed for enthusiastic grassroots educators working with teens.

Fortunately, my efforts paid off and I was selected as one of 18 educators from North and South Carolina for this amazing adventure, traveling from North Carolina to New England exploring aquariums and speaking with scientists to learn more about climate change and how it affects marine mammals, meeting many of those mammals along the way. Visit The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences to learn more about the program and its purpose.

As a program specialist on the In-House Education team at Discovery Place, I am excited about my adventure and eagerly look forward to sharing my stories and photos from my travels on Discovery Place’s website. I also hope to incoporate some of what I learn into future programming at Discovery Place.

If you like dolphins, whales, sea otters and seals, stay tuned to this page. Future posts will include tales from dolphin watching at the Virginia Aquarium and a beluga encounter in Mystic, Connecticut.

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