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| Front row from L: Project Coordinator Dr. Rochelle Seitz and mentor Megan Wood. Back row from L: student John Lee Huguenin, mentors Melissa Karp and Danielle Tarpley, student Jessica Sydnor, mentor Heidi Brightman, student Nick Wolher, mentor Annie Murphy, students Eleanor Grace and Kelly Salyer, mentor Dr. Elizabeth Canuel, and student Kristen Choi. Photo by Erin Kelly |
By Erin Fryer
The VIMS Governor's School is a 4-week summer program that has been providing high-achieving high school students with authentic experiences in marine research since 1993. Each summer, VIMS hosts up to 6 students who have demonstrated interest in and aptitude for marine science. The program is administered in tandem with a similar program at NASA Langley.
VIMS Research Associate Professor Rochelle Seitz, who has served as director of the program since 2005, says the apprenticeships offer a wide variety of research opportunities. “Each student’s experience is as different as their mentors’ research interests,” she says. “What they all gain is a deeper understanding of their specific project and a greater appreciation for the challenges and rewards of marine research.”
Jack Huguenin, a rising junior at Central High School in Wise, was mentored by Seitz and graduate student Melissa Karp. Their project was to observe whether the size and shape of an oyster reef might influence habitat selection by mud crabs.
Joining Huguenin in the VIMS program were Kristin Choi (Ocean Lakes High School, Virginia Beach); Ellie Grace (Potomac Falls High School, Loudon County); Kelly Salyer (John S. Battle High School, Bristol); Jessica Sydnor (Poquoson High School, Poquoson); and Nicklaus Wohler (Riverbend High School, Fredricksburg).
Sydnor, a rising senior, worked with VIMS professor Courtney Harris and graduate student Danielle Smith, using the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) and MATLAB to improve hydrodynamic modeling of salinity dynamics in the York River.
“My future goal is to become either a mathematician or chemist that works within the field of marine science,” says Syndor. “My new-found familiarity with MATLAB will prove to be a very useful tool in my future career.”
Grace, who attends the Loudon Academy of Science in Northern Virginia in addition to Potomac Falls High School, hopes to double major in environmental science and graphic design when she heads off to college.
Mentored by VIMS Professor Iris Anderson and graduate student Annie Murphy, Grace worked on a project to determine if commercial clam farming impacts the diversity of organisms that burrow within underlying sediments. “Essentially, we calculated biodiversity indices for the organisms found within sediment core samples, then compared those indices for cores retrieved from areas within clam beds and in bare sediment to see if clam farming does indeed affect the infaunal communities.”
With their high school careers coming to an end, Grace, Huguenin, and Sydnor are all considering pursuing their undergraduate degrees at the College of William & Mary.
“This program is important for the students to gain hands-on experience in marine science research so that they can better determine whether this is a discipline they would like to pursue for a career,” says Seitz. “Some of our past Governor's School students have even gone on to apply to the College of William & Mary’s School of Marine Science at VIMS.”
Excerpted from http://www.vims.edu/newsandevents/topstories/gov_school_14.php
Excerpted from http://www.vims.edu/newsandevents/topstories/gov_school_14.php
