Hello again! Welcome back to Chloe’s Blog: The Neap Tides and Full Week of Lab Work version. This past weekend, Colleen was kind enough to take us (me, Sherlyn, and Victoria) into Coos Bay to get materials for our invertebrate ball costumes. In case you are not familiar with OIMB traditions, the invertebrate ball is an event that OIMB hosts every year during the summer in which students and REUs dress as their favorite invertebrates, and prizes are given out for the best costumes. Since arriving at OIMB and looking back at the blogs of previous REUs, I have heard that the invertebrate ball is really fun, so I am excited that it is coming up this Friday night and that I get to see everyone’s interesting costumes! Sherlyn and I decided to stick with something simple, so we are both going as jellies. Don’t worry though, I will give more updates on the happenings of the invertebrate ball during next week’s blog post.
Anyways, after picking up stuff for our costumes, we decided to check out this thrift shop that Victoria had mentioned. When she went, the store was having a sale where anything that could fit in a large, brown paper bag would only cost $5, no matter how much was in the bag, and when we went to the same store this last weekend, it just so happened that the sale was still continuing. After looking around the shop, we had some luck and ended up filling two bags with clothes and other items; I got a cardigan, a cute sweater, and something small for my mom, which was pretty exciting. Then, later that day, we had our (you guessed it) weekly movie night. This week, we decided to really delve back to our childhood roots and watch Hannah Montana: The Movie. I was obsessed with Hannah Montana when I was younger. I even had a Hannah Montana pen that featured a small plastic TV on the top, and when you clicked a button on the pen, the image on the TV screen changed to a different picture of Hannah. As we were watching the movie, I forgot that it is set in Tennessee, which was pretty cool and kind of bittersweet since Tennessee has such personal meaning to me, and after finishing the movie, I definitely felt my longing for home grow. As I briefly suggested earlier, there were not any good spring low tides this week, so that means no fieldwork and mainly lab/office work, which is a nice respite after the busyness of fieldwork last week. I am in the process of finalizing the details of my poster and updating my previously made graphs with the new data from last week to get them poster ready, especially since I will have to add next week’s data to them after fieldwork each day. Additionally, Ali helped me figure out how to gather metrics on the mature eelgrass seeds that have been released from the flowering shoots we collected, so I spent a few hours this week using calipers to determine the size of the seeds. I have neither seen nor used calipers before, so this experience was yet another to add to my list of what I have learned throughout the program so far. Anyhow, I was able to work in the lab by myself and put on a little bit of music while examining the adorable eelgrass seeds, which I thought was really enjoyable. Finally, I have also been working on my presentation for the CMLC session this Saturday. Even though this week has been somewhat stressful as the program is beginning to come to a close and things are becoming more intense, I feel as if the CMLC presentation will be a fun experience to share our research and what we have been doing this summer with the public. For our professional development session this week, we had a discussion about graduate schools. We heard from some OIMB faculty members as well as a panel of current and incoming graduate students. Since I am in the process of looking at graduate schools right now, I really enjoyed hearing what graduate schools and PIs are or are not looking for, and the discussion addressed a vast majority of the questions that I already had and some questions that I did not realize that I had. Overall, I feel as if this professional development session is the most productive one that we have had so far. My 21st birthday was on Tuesday of this week (August 2), and I have to say that this birthday is in the top three of all of my birthdays combined. I normally do not make a big deal out of my birthday (largely because I am not usually keen on being the center of attention), but everyone really went out of their way to make me feel special, which meant more to me than words can describe. My day started with me noticing a happy birthday banner hung over the wall in front of my desk (courtesy of Colleen), which instantly put a smile on my face. Throughout the day, I received numerous birthday wishes from my family and my fellow REUs as well as a few gifts and cards. During dinner, members of the dining hall staff brought me a cupcake with a lit candle in it, and everyone sang happy birthday, which was most certainly appreciated but also definitely made me blush. Later that night, we spent the evening in town with Ali; being able to spend time and talk with my mentor and friends was a nice way to end my day. As I end this blog, I would just like to again highlight how grateful I am for my family’s support throughout this experience and how thankful I am for the absolutely amazing people that I have met during my time here. I am beyond humbled by everyone’s effort to make me stand out on my birthday as well as for everything that people have done for me during the program, no matter how small the task may have seemed.
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AuthorHi everyone! My name is Chloe Cummins, and I am from Loretto, Tennessee. I am a rising senior at the University of Tennessee Southern where I am pursuing a B.S. degree in Biology (with a concentration in Wildlife Biology and Ecology) and a minor in Sustainability. I’m super excited to be researching the reproductive ecology of eelgrass with my mentor Ali Helms at the South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve during my time here at OIMB! Archives
August 2022
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