ASB Terps Helping Turtles 2018

The final day of our trip was such an emotional roller coaster. Today was our last day at the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center, and there were so many emotions flowing through us as we walked through those doors at  7:30 am for the last morning of service. We fed and cleaned the tanks of the turtles in Turtle Bay as usual, people worked in Sick Bay as usual, and it seemed for a moment as though nothing would change. It really started to hit as we began wrapping up for the morning, As we sat in the break room and doused our hands in hand sanitizer one last time, we reflected on all of the experiences we’d had with the turtles and volunteers over the last week. We had managed to walk in with little to no experience caring for these turtles and knowing none of the volunteers working there, and we walked away with more knowledge than we could ever have imagined. We took a brief break for lunch and returned to the turtle hospital one last time to take some pic

Today was the day a lot of us have been looking forward to: Teaching Day!  We spent this morning awaiting the arrival of 550 students ranging in age from kindergarten through high school who all came to learn about the sea turtle hospital.  Some of us were placed at the teaching stations in the hospital where the students could learn about the different sea turtle species, sea turtle anatomy, cold stunning, nesting, threats to sea turtles, and surgery success stories from the hospital.  The students were also able to peer into sick bay and walk through sea turtle bay where the rest of us were stationed to tell the stories of the individual sea turtles. It was fun to watch their excitement as we introduced them to the turtles. Going into Thursday, we learned and practiced our presentations during reflection the night before. This morning, we went to our stations, armed with our new t-shirts from the hospital we have all been anxiously waiting to receive. We stood ready while students

This morning we were off bright and early again to the turtle hospital.  Leaving the house at 7:15 am has been getting easier, but no one seems all that excited to be up early.  However, we've been able to see the sunrise each morning during breakfast.  Carolyn, a volunteer at the raptor center, holds a Missippi Kite who had a broken wing that did not heal properly. Greg, a volunteer holds an adult screech owl.  This owl imprinted on humans as a fledgling and cannot be released into the wild. We again split into two teams--four people worked with the turtles in Sick Bay and the rest of the group worked with the turtles in Turtle Bay.  We got to work again with the volunteer team leader, Gail who was excited to see us and get us to work.  We fed the turtles their food and medicine at 8am, going making sure that none of the food got sucked up by the filtration system.  The green turtles had special filters we attached to their take intake pipes to prevent their vegetables

Day 3 started very gloomily with the skies being dark and cloudly. We left the house at 7:15 A.M. as it was pouring down rain. However, when we arrived at the Turtle Hospital, we immediately felt our day brighten up! The volunteers were welcoming as always, although unfortunately the turtles seemed agitated by the incoming thunderstorms.  Both of us were assigned to work at Turtle Bay today since we both had a chance to work in Sick Bay in prior days. We are starting to become accustomed to the routine - at 8 A.M. we were ready to feed the turtles, of course feeding the pills first and making sure stray food did not clog the pipes. After feeding, we were responsible for cleaning the tanks by scrubbing the tanks (and the turtles!) and making sure the tanks were sanitized using a Clorox towel. Afterward, we went outside to clean the fishy and stinky nets and buckets used in Turtle Bay and Sick Bay - once we were done with them, they smelled good as new! We luckily also got to clean t

Day 2!!! Very excite!! We woke up extra early to arrive at the turtle hospital at 7:30am, as per request by Jean. With morale high (and eyelids a little heavy), we got ready to experience another wonderful day helping all the sea turtles. Luckily, today was a lot warmer than the previous two days, which definitely helped to wake some people up. I (Jane) was assigned to sick bay to help feed, clean, and treat the turtles that need extra care. Although the turtles in turtle bay were extra lively and friendly, each and every one of the turtles in sick bay had their own personalities as well. Sherri noticed that a lot of the turtles seem less sick than we had originally expected them to be. However, there were also turtles with very serious injuries, such as holes in their carapace and extreme lethargy. It was surprising to find how their treatments were similar to our (possible) daily supplements and treatments. In addition, there was a lot of hosing down the tanks and a few of us got r

Rise and shine! We woke up early this morning to get a jump-start on our service experience. After a quick breakfast of Honey Nut Cheerios (not sponsored) and oatmeal, we headed out to the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center. We met up with some of the volunteers to figure out what we would be doing for the day. With a very warm welcome, the Sunday volunteers explained some of the tasks we would be doing. Four members of our group ventured into Sick Bay to care for the more critical sea turtles, while the rest of us filed into Sea Turtle Bay to care for the other residents of the hospital. Donald and I were in Sea Turtle Bay: we walked in to see large tanks containing Loggerhead, Green, and Kemp's Ridley sea turtles. The largest tank was home to Snooki, a 350-pound Loggerhead, who Donald and I had the pleasure of meeting last year. A few volunteers introduced us to some of the sea turtles, and then we jumped right into volunteering tasks. We started by using C

Terps Helping Turtles is a go! The team got on the road around 8:30am yesterday and began our journey stocked to the teeth with snacks. Nelson and Sabrina took the wheel(s) for the first leg of the trip, and the cars jammed out to everything from K-pop to classical. Conversation topics ranged from arguments over the moral existence of altruism to a debate over whether 2000s music would be classified in the "oldies" genre. Since our normal visitor center lunch stop was closed, we took a short detour to lake near Gaston, North Carolina. The nearby paper mill produced odors of the most unique quality- so distinct, in fact, that two participants in two separate vehicles narrowed down the smell to one location: the spot at the Great Wall supermarket in between the fish aisle and the vegetables. Lunch on the lake was beautiful, but our enjoyment was cut short by a height chart on a nearby children's playground. According to the sign, Hannah was 5.5ft. She's actually 6

This was on my first AB experience, an Environmental trip in the Bahamas! Although the extent of my turtle-pun ability was limited by the sheer awesomeness of everyone else's blog post titles, I hope that my Finding Nemo reference can accurately portray my excitement for this service experience! Fast Facts about Lilli: Sophomore in ILS Environmental Science Major, Women's Studies Minor Aspiring to join the Peace Corps after graduation Has her eyes set on Med school for OB/GYN or Endocrinology Member of Alpha Phi Omega, National Community Service Fraternity This is her second Alternative Breaks experience! (First one was in the Bahamas last winter break - it was life-changing!!) I'm very excited to take this journey with my fellow turtley-awesome Terps. Let's having a flipping great time :)

Greetings! I'm Kimia, and I'm a senior majoring in Physiology & Neurobiology on the pre-medical track. I was born and raised in Howard County, MD. Two of my main hobbies are running and photography. I am currently applying to medical school and if accepted (fingers crossed), will matriculate in the fall of 2019. In the meantime, I will hopefully be doing research at the National Institutes of Health. I participated in my first Alternative Breaks trip my freshman year. It was on the issue of urban agriculture in Boston, MA, and I really enjoyed it. After that, I kept hearing about how great the Terps Helping Turtles trip is from my friends who had gone on it. After so many positive remarks, I knew that I had to do it before graduating. I've been a strong supporter of environmental conservation since coming into university. I have become more educated on this issue over the last few years and have increased my environmentally conscious practices. I hope this trip will a

Hi everyone! My name is Nelson Chen and I am from Greenbelt, MD, which is right up the road from the University of Maryland. I am a sophomore first-year ILS student majoring in Neurobiology & Physiology and Psychology. This is my first time going on an Alternative Spring Break trip and I look forward to it as I have heard great things about it. Some things that I really enjoy would be biking, napping, and hanging out with friends. I spent a lot of time working as a scribe and volunteering my time at different service sites including going on this trip to volunteer at the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue & Rehabilitation Center! I am really excited to go on this trip as I want to be able to get first-hand experience working with these turtles as well as explore the different sites we will also be volunteering at. Turtles are very interesting creatures and I have spent a good amount of time watching documentaries about them. Overall, I look forward to learning a lot about thes

My name is Grant and I am a sophomore Biology (Evolution and Ecology) major. I'm from Baltimore County in Maryland and I enjoy learning about science stuff, watching and making YouTube videos, writing and listening to music, and taking walks and bike rides outside. My favorite animals include capybaras, dolphins, rabbits, and dogs obviously. I've never been on an alternative breaks trip, so this will be an interesting new experience.

Hey everyone! I am Ashley Houser and I am a Freshman Animal Science/Pre-Vet major, and I am thinking about adding in a minor in business. I am currently in the Mighty Sound of Maryland marching band at UMD, and I am also very passionate about dancing and I am looking forward to hopefully join a team on campus next semester. I am from Ellicott City, MD, and in my free time I love to dance(this took up probably 95% of my time before college), volunteer at local animal shelters and vet clinics, and binge watch my favorite shows and movies, some of which include Friends, So You Think You Can Dance, and any classic Disney movies. My favorite animal is probably a sheep as my room at home is infested with millions of sheep stuffed animals, but I really love all animals! I am so excited for this trip as it will be great to have such hands-on experience with an exotic species of animals, as this will be such a change in atmosphere from working with the animals at the farm every

Hi!  I am a Terp Alum, but this is my first Terps Helping Turtles trip.  I am excited to get to know everyone more.  I live in Ellicott City but am originally from a small town in southwest Virginia, called Wytheville (population 8,000). I love both science and education.  The moment I realized that I liked teaching was when I realized that on a trip to the west coast after undergrad graduation, I had described the display and mating habits of most animals we had visited at the San Diego Zoo--that and my friends may just be humoring me by listening to me for the past few hours.  I am a plant virologist by training, definitely a cat person, and my guilty pleasures are dark chocolate and fantasy books.  I'm looking forward to learning more about reptile rehabilitation and about all of the rest of the ILS THT team.

Hi everyone! My name is Lexi, and I am from Cockeysville, MD. I am a sophomore majoring in Neurobiology/Physiology as well as Spanish.  This will be my first year on the Terps Helping Turtles trip, and I am can't wait to have the opportunity to voltunteer at the Beasley Sea Turtle Hospital! My absolutely favorite thing to do is travel, and if I can see animals as I go (as I had the chance to with the sloth in Peru as pictured), even better! I have many favorite animals, and while sloths and turtles are certainly close to the top of my list, my absolute favorite has to be a polar bear.  Polar bears, like sea turtles, are obviously being greatly impacted by climate change and pollution, and we all need to do what we can to help them.  I am excited to have the opportunity learn more about and participate in environmental conservation efforts during my spring break with our Terps Helping Turtles group.  I am looking forward to getting to know my fellow participants, and to making lots

Hello! My name is Hannah and I'm a junior double majoring in Bioengineering and Mathematics from Rockville Maryland. In my spare time you can usually find me napping, watching anime, folding origami, or drinking way too much bubble tea. My favorite animal is the owl, but I'm a fan of most birds and enjoy collecting plushies of owls and penguins. This is my first time going on an Alternative Breaks, and I'm very excited to go to the raptor center as well as meet the sea turtles up close! I'm also looking forward to engaging with the local community and exploring the effects of human interaction on the environment, specifically at the Topsail beaches. I hope to get to know everyone on the trip as well as people working towards environmental conservation at both the sea turtle hospital and the wider Topsail community. Here's to a good time!

Hey everyone! My name is Donald, and I’m currently a sophomore studying Environmental Science and Technology and Public Health. This will be my second time volunteering at the Beasley Sea Turtle Hospital, and this year I’m super stoked (turtley stoked, one might say) to co-lead the experience. I hail all the way from Silver Spring, Maryland (a whole 15 minutes down the road), meaning I’m almost as local as it gets. So local, in fact, that I’ve gone to middle school, high school, and college on the same street that I live on. Go MoCo! As a wildlife photographer it’s impossible for me to pick a favorite animal (they’re all too good), but if I was forced to choose I would have to pick the wolverine. But I guarantee you that answer will change if you ask me tomorrow (see above parenthesis). I love to hike, camp, climb, and do anything that involves getting me out into the mountains. Terps Helping Turtles was life-changing experience, and I’m excited to return to the turtle hosp