There are a lot of perks that come with membership at the New England Aquarium, like express admission all year and discounts at the Cafe and Gift Shop. Now you can add our new Member of the Week recognition to that list. How can members participate? Just show up and visit your Aquarium! We'll be randomly selecting members for this special honor throughout the fall.

We’d like to introduce you to Julien and Reilly, our Members of the Week. We met them in the lower level of our West Wing at the Jellies exhibit. Their family recently came to our area from Atlanta, but they had visited the Aquarium before and, as Julien told us, they became New England Aquarium members right after they moved.




This week’s visit was a special daddy/daughter day, “so [Reilly] could take her time and ask all of her five million questions,” as her mother told us via email. Reilly said that she likes to touch the rays in The Trust Family Foundation Shark and Ray Touch Tank, but that her little brother Ryan—who was having his own mommy/son day at home—likes sharks. In fact, she informed us that Ryan wants, “a flying shark that’s as big as my mom,” for Christmas. (We’re pretty sure this flying shark from our Gift Shop isn’t quite as big as Reilly’s mother.)

For being our Members of the Week, Julien and Reilly received a free 4”x6” photo from our friends at SharpShooter; a copy of the beautifully illustrated Aquarium souvenir guidebook; a copy of Ice Island, by Dr. Greg Stone Ph.D., Aquarium Senior Vice President of Ocean Exploration and Conservation; and two plush sharks—one for Reilly and one for her to take home to Ryan.


So what do you have to do to be our Member of the Week? Just visit! You could win on any day of the week, any time of day. We'll be announcing winners right here on the News Blog every Friday. So come on down and visit Myrtle in her new home in the penguin exhibit, check in with those boisterous sea lions, search for seadragons, see the little blue penguins in their temporary exhibit  and experience the Aquarium's exciting transformation first hand. Who knows, you could be our next Member of the Week