Every month our Volunteer office sorts through piles of nominations from supervisors and honors one of our volunteers for their truly stupendous efforts. Meet our latest Volunteer of the Month.

This month, we’d like to nominate a volunteer for skills he can demonstrate at hardly any other institutions than the Aquarium. Over the past 9 months, Conor has volunteered over 272 hours of his time working with one of our signature exhibits: the Giant Ocean Tank.

A diver glides over the top of the Giant Ocean Tank's four-story reef

Every so often when we update the tank with new fish, we have to collect some of its current inhabitants to live in other exhibits. One of the major challenges of this is collecting the fish, of course!

Conor Getchell

Giant Ocean Tank Senior Aquarist Chris Bauernfeind offered this nomination because of Conor's efforts in this process:

I would like to nominate Conor Getchell. Here’s why: A few weeks ago when we began our days at 5:00 am for our night-dive fish collections, Conor was there 3 of the 4 mornings which really showed dedication (it doesn’t hurt, too, that he’s an awesome fish collector) and honestly we couldn’t have done it without him. Calling him reliable and dependable is an understatement. He really went above and beyond what we expect from our volunteers. Also, he’s got a calm demeanor and witty sense of humor, which fits really well with our team.

Thank you, Conor for your skills and dedication!

Conor shows off his creativity with a Where's Waldo costume in the tank for the annual members-only Halloween party Fish, Fun and Fright.