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.

For the month of January we are pleased to award Lisa Martinek with the recognition of Volunteer of the Month! Lisa is a Yawkey Coral Reef Center volunteer, one of the smallest and most unique galleries we have. On Saturdays you can find her taking great care of our garden eels, dwarf sea horses, live coral tank, and more!

The dwarf seahorses are just one of the exhibits in the Yawkey Coral Reef Center.

Here is what her Yawkey Coral Reef Center supervisor Kate Hudec had to say:

I would like to nominate my Yawkey gallery volunteer, Lisa Martinek. She has been a Saturday volunteer since April and, in all that time, has taken only two Saturdays off. Not only is she the most reliable volunteer I have ever had, but she epitomizes everything anyone could want in an aquarist volunteer. She is extremely careful, observant, hardworking, and detail oriented.  Her judgement is so sound that she is able to cover the Yawkey Gallery with very little supervision on the Saturdays I am not here and, in doing so, has made a real contribution to the Galleries team. I strongly encourage you to give her the recognition she deserves.

Please join us in congratulating Lisa!

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.

For the month of December we are pleased to award Tammy Tauscher with the recognition of Volunteer of the Month! Tammy has been a dedicated volunteer in the Giant Ocean Tank since 2012, and in that time has donated over 1,000 hours of service to the aquarium. Tammy has continually gone above and beyond to help the Aquarium when needed, and for that we are extremely grateful!

Tammy Tauscher, December's volunteer of the month

Here is what her Giant Ocean Tank supervisor Chris Bauernfeind had to say:

Tammy feeding fish in the Giant Ocean Tank

Tammy is the core of our Wednesday volunteer team. Week after week after week for three years now, she shows up early in the morning and gets the ball rolling with food preparation for the GOT critters. 

Throughout the day, she constantly stays busy, looking for things to do during down time. And she does it all with a vibe of positivity and cheerfulness and humor… even on days when we have to move two pallets of frozen seafood into our freezer. Though she does take the award for clumsiest volunteer (self-acknowledged), I wouldn’t trade her for anybody! 

Please join us in congratulating Tammy!

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.

For the month of November we are pleased to award Ming Xu with the recognition of Volunteer of the Month! Above and beyond Ming’s dedication to the Penguin Department as volunteer, he is also a Service Leader with the live blue™ Service Initiative. Ming’s passion for the Aquarium is noticed by so many and we are grateful to have his leadership and dedication on our teams each and every week.

Ming Xu is November's Volunteer of the Month!

Here is what his Penguin Colony supervisor Andrea Newman had to say:

Ming has an enthusiastic energy that is infectious. He is willing to do any task that we ask him to do, and does it with a smile on his face. In fact, I feel like Ming is always smiling. He always has a positive attitude and is quick to laugh and make a joke, even at himself. Someone with this sort of attitude makes whatever job you are doing more enjoyable, and I feel it is an asset to our team. Ming also has an efficiency in which he does these tasks that is unparalleled to any other volunteer I have worked with. Not only does he get things done quickly, but with the attention to detail that we require, ensuring the penguins and their exhibit are taken care of properly.      

Time definitely flies when you are having fun as Ming has been a volunteer for almost a year now, but it feels like it was yesterday when he first joined our team. He has been a dependable volunteer and keeps the team positive and motivated with his positive attitude (and chocolate) that he brings each week.

Additionally, here is what our live blue™ Service Coordinator Brad Pillen had to say about Ming:

Ming leading a service trip

Ming completed his Service Leader training just this past year, but has already been an active leader and advocate for the live blue™ Service Initiative. He has found a strong connection with the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, and has led three live blue projects with them already over the past few months, all the while continuing to pursue new service projects and opportunities on his own. His attitude, enthusiasm, and unyielding energy have made his service events a popular choice amongst service corps volunteers this summer and fall!

Please join us in congratulating Ming!

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.

As the aquarium is busy gearing up for the fast approaching sea turtle stranding season, we are excited to award the October Volunteer of the Month to a dedicated Rescue Rehab volunteer, Kristina Williams! Kristina’s limits to volunteering truly have no boundaries as her supervisor explains below in great detail. We are grateful for her service and wish her the best of luck as she applies to vet schools!

Kristina meets a live penguin at the Long Island Aquarium & Rehab Center

Here’s what Senior Biologist, Katie Pugliares had to say:

I would like to nominate the one and only Kristina Williams!

Kristina Williams

Kristina Williams began as my very first necropsy volunteer for the rescue and rehab department in early 2012. Since then, she has donated well over 1100 hours of service. Over the past four years Kristina has taken on many odd tasks that go along with being a necropsy volunteer. There is the obvious: assisting in post-mortem exams for loggerhead sea turtles, shark-bitten seals or parasite-infested dolphins. Then there is the less obvious and less glorious: creating a searchable inventory of the ancient archives of thousands (literally) of frozen samples of itty bitty pieces of who knows what sort of tissue that have been in our collection since before she was born; or there is also the cleaning of the goo left behind when the carcass freezer breaks and everything inside thaws. Whatever task I ask Kristina to do, she always tackles it with patience and enthusiasm and a big contagious smile. During our busy turtle seasons she jumps right in and fills any role that is asked of her quite seamlessly.  

Kristina quickly became my right-hand woman during post-mortem exams as her attention to detail and organizational skills are incredible. I rely greatly on Kristina to train new volunteers in proper techniques for tissue sample collection. Most recently, she has filled the role of primary prosector in fresh pinniped necropsy exams when I am not available to conduct them myself. She confidently leads a team of less experienced volunteers and interns to assist her in sample collection and data recording. Upon my return to the lab, I am always pleased to see that all of the samples are collected and stored appropriately, quality images of gross lesions are taken and the lab is spotless. I believe in Kristina’s necropsy skills so much that I invited her to travel with me to other partner organizations in New York and Virginia to help process large volumes of dead stranded bottlenose dolphins during an Unusual Mortality Event in 2013. Kristina was beyond helpful and always maintained a professional demeanor when interacting with other staff and volunteers of other organizations. 

Swimming cold-stunned sea turtles

One thing that stands out to everyone in our department is how thoughtful Kristina is. During our busiest turtle season, Kristina offered to come in extra hours in the morning before going to her full time job to help us swim and feed turtles. Her day started very early with us and when she left here at 1PM it wasn’t the end of her day. She was headed to fill the second shift at the vet clinic she works at. Before she hit the road, she ordered and delivered two hot pizzas for the turtle team that was still busily working through their lunch breaks. I think she knew that we could only sustain on a strict diet of Munchkins for so long. Kristina is one of the busiest and most hard-working people I know. In addition to working full time at an emergency vet hospital she is also studying very hard to get into vet school. Yet she still makes volunteering with us a priority. And this effort and dedication to our mission should not go unnoticed. She is a great representation of an NEAQ volunteer. For these reasons, and many many more, I gladly nominate Kristina Williams as volunteer of the month for October.

Congratulations to Kristina!

Every month our Volunteer department sorts through piles of nominations from supervisors and honors one of our volunteers for their truly stupendous efforts. Meet this month's volunteer!

Volunteers at the Aquarium have a habit of stepping up when needed. That’s why this month, we’re excited to honor Bob Munson as our Volunteer of the Month! Bob has been with us for a few years now, and has recently gone the extra mile to help out in times of need.

Here is what Bob’s supervisor, marine mammal trainer Vanessa Varian, has to say about Bob:

Bob has been volunteering with us since August 2012. He is reliably the first volunteer to arrive every Wednesday. Each week he brings with him a smile and a story. Bob has been a dependable and vital part of our dive crew whether he’s vacuuming the harbor seal exhibit, or diligently scrubbing the stubborn algae from the walls of the MMC.  

He’s been flexible with all the changes our department has gone through this year. Bob eagerly offered to come help out extra days when we were desperate for dive coverage. This meant that sometimes he was coming in 2-3 times a week to dive with us! He is a devoted and passionate diver, who has truly gone the extra mile to make sure our seals’ homes are in good shape. We really can’t thank him enough for making volunteering with us such a priority. For all these reasons and more, Bob is certainly deserving of volunteer of the month.

Every month our Volunteer department sorts through piles of nominations from supervisors and honors one of our volunteers for their truly stupendous efforts. Meet this month's volunteer!

Our volunteers are committed to the work they do, and we are thrilled when they apply their experience and knowledge outside of the Aquarium walls. For that reason and more, we are excited to name Allison Onofrio as our August Volunteer of the Month!



Here is her Allison’s supervisor, Meaghan-Elizabeth Foster, has to say about Allison:

Allison is a volunteer I can always count on. She travels down every week from school in NH to volunteer. She also often volunteers for longer shifts than required. She has taken what she has learned from the Aquarium and made changes in her community by convincing her sorority’s chef to switch from preparing Atlantic salmon to Pacific salmon, a more sustainable option. She consistently gets positive feedback from Mystery Shoppers and just won Outstanding Team member for her smiley positive attitude and ability to answer visitor questions with ease.

Thank you, Allison!

Every month our Volunteer department sorts through piles of nominations from supervisors and honors one of our volunteers for their truly stupendous efforts. Meet this month's volunteer!

We trust and depend on our volunteers to properly handle the sometimes hectic situations that can arise when working at an Aquarium. Christina Minniti is no exception to this, and has proven time and time again why she is so valuable to the team. We are excited to name Christina as our July Volunteer of the Month!

Here’s what her supervisor, Brianne Dent, has to say about Christina:

Christina has been an incredibly valuable contribution to my Saturday team, and last week was no exception! When an emergency happened first thing in the morning, she was quick to notice something was wrong and jumped in to help wherever was needed. I was able to ask her to go into another gallery, and with minimal direction she was able to complete multiple tasks while I dealt with larger issues. 

She never misses a beat when it comes to making sure things get done and holds herself to the same high standard that I hold myself to. She has a keen eye for detail and pays very close attention to every animal that she helps care for.  She will even notice issues with animals before I have a chance to mention them to her! She is a quick learner and is always on top of making sure everything in the gallery looks its best by the end of the day. She has a great attitude and no matter the task I ask her to do, she completes it with ease.

Her excitement to always learn more and passion for working with all the animals in the gallery has made working with her on Saturday such a pleasure.

Every month our Volunteer department sorts through piles of nominations from supervisors and honors one of our volunteers for their truly stupendous efforts. Meet this month's volunteer!

Our volunteers are not only great at the work they do, but are also great people who brighten up those around them. That’s why this month we’re thrilled to be awarding our Volunteer of the Month award to Gimena Suarez!

Here’s what her supervisor, Michelle Zamarripa has to say about Gimena:

Gimena Suarez is one of the hardest working and kindest people I have had the pleasure working alongside. She makes the lab operate like a well-oiled machine and I strongly feel her absence when she is out (which is luckily, very rare). Gimena has been volunteering with us since November 21, 2013, coming all the way from Worcester every Thursday. 

For those of you who know about some of the tests we run in the lab, she is a spot plate wizard. She is enthusiastic about learning more and frequently attends brown bag and lecture series. Her attention to detail and her ability to multitask have made her highly effective in the lab, but it is her smile she brings with her every time that makes me excited for another Thursday to come.

Every month our Volunteer department 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!

Kim Podesta

This month, we are awarding Kim Podesta, a volunteer with the Marine Mammal Department, the recognition of Volunteer of the Month! Her calm and respectful personality, along with her unbeatable work ethic makes her the best choice.

Here’s what her supervisor, Kim Cummings, had to say:

This summer will mark Kim’s three year anniversary with the department. Kim is everything you could ask for in a volunteer and colleague. She is hard working, a good leader and role model, has excellent attendance, and is kind and generous. Kim never shies away from a new challenge and she continues to volunteer to take on more responsibility. Kim will come in and work extra hours when the team is in need. She will stay late and recently stayed late learning a new educational talk that she is now presenting every Tuesday morning. She is the only volunteer that has mastered this talk and is presenting at the Marine Mammal Center weekly. There is never a doubt that tasks will be done to their completion and exceed expectations when Kim is at work. 

Beautiful Burger

Because Kim has shown so much growth and development in the last three years she was recently given her own training project. She was taught how to feed and train Burger, the aquarium’s rococo toad. Years ago prior to being trained, Burger would be very stressed getting taken out of her habitat to go on educational rounds. Through training this situation was made positive for her and has been maintained by mammal’s staff. When deciding who to pass Burger’s training off to, Kim was a front runner in the staff’s minds. She has excelled at this project and has built a comfortable relationship with Burger and is moving forward with her training. 

Kim is essential in the team’s enrichment program. She is always coming up with creative and novel ideas to enrich the animals.  She will bring in items from home and spend time assembling new toys and testing them out.  She will take on repairs for broken or older toys making them new and functional again. 

Please join us in congratulating Kim!

Every month our Volunteer department 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!

Our volunteers are focused, enthusiastic, and most importantly devoted to protecting the blue planet. Lauren Mack has more than proven herself in each of these areas, which is why she is April’s Volunteer of the Month!

Here’s what her supervisor, Chris Bauernfeind, had to say:

Lauren is one of our Saturday volunteers, and has many talents beyond food prep and scrubbing the GOT reef.  She is a Meet Myrtle host extraordinaire with a lot of enthusiasm and knowledge that regularly wows our guests. She is a musician with a YouTube video that has 18,000 views - a parody of the Frozen song "Let it Go":  filmed mostly within NEAq's walls. 

And lastly, did you know that she recently finished her first and only Boston Marathon?! What started as a casual conversation and me telling her that "anyone can run a marathon if you put the time and effort into it" became a personal challenge for her, and she went from someone who had barely run a few miles to a marathon finisher. That's 26.2 miles, folks. What an amazing achievement, and what's even more amazing is that she trained through this insane Boston winter all while fundraising over $5000 for our Aquarium's outreach programs!

Show your appreciation by taking a look at her Frozen parody and sharing it with your friends!

Every month our Volunteer department 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!

For our Volunteer of the Month in March, we’re bringing it back to our visitors by recognizing an individual who has served as both volunteer and intern in the Visitor Education department. Her commitment to our mission and her communication skills have made this month's winner an incredible asset over the past 4 years, and we’re grateful for the impact she’s made on countless visitors!

Congratulations to Robi Zallen!

Robi, a smiling face in Visitor Education

Here’s what her supervisor, Lisbeth Bornhofft, had to say:

Robi Zallen recently celebrated her 4-year anniversary as a volunteer in Visitor Education, where she has great success both as an Aquarium Guide and as an Intern. She is eager, enthusiastic and very competent. She is willing to do anything that is needed and has dedicated many hours learning outside her regular shift. 

Robi always asks pertinent questions and follows through with visitors. Her natural, intuitive ability to communicate and her background in psychology generate a perfect ambiance for successful interpretation with visitors. Her professionalism, openness, friendly attitude, and depth of knowledge make her an excellent mentor for others. 

I am always impressed by Robi’s motivation to seek feedback and by her commitment to improvement. Robi has demonstrated dedication to learning, teaching and making a positive contribution to the mission of the New England Aquarium.

Stop by on a Wednesday and be sure to learn a few things from this knowledgeable volunteer!

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!

Volunteers at the New England Aquarium add value to our community, not only for their enthusiasm in completing the oftentimes unglamorous tasks necessary to provide our animals with incredible care, but also because they are incredible people to work with!

This month we are awarding Erin Carpenter, West Wing Volunteer for both of these reasons! Here’s what Austin Brayton (who's blogged about the shorebirds before) wrote in her nomination:

Erin has volunteered with the West Wing for over a year. We were excited when, after taking a summer hiatus, she returned to volunteer with us again this past fall. I am nominating Erin because she is such a pleasure to work with. She is always happy to be here and that makes the staff who works with her happy as well. She enthusiastically tackles even the dirtiest and most mundane tasks and sincerely wants to help with whatever work just needs to get done. She really cares about the quality of her work and maintaining high standards of animal care. Erin is simply a nice person and every week I look forward to seeing her and hearing amusing stories about her life. She deserves to be recognized as Volunteer of the Month!

Join us and the jellies in our appreciation of this dedicated West Wing volunteer!

Wow, 2015 has been an intense year so far! While we’ve all felt it, our Rescue & Rehabilitation volunteers down in Quincy, MA, have lived it from a unique perspective. Record breaking doesn’t even begin to describe this past turtle stranding season.  

Volunteers gently heft a loggerhead sea turtle into a rehabilitation tank.

Adam Kennedy, Senior Biologist, had this to say about his volunteers:

Specifically during cold-stun events these folks show their unbridled passion. They show up at awful hours and stay until the last piece of equipment is clean--sometimes 16 hours after they started their shift. It is not uncommon for folks to volunteer to do multiple 12-hour days in a week. They do not know when the season is going to start. We certainly never know when it will end. But, the rescue vols are here. In freezing cold rooms, sticking their bare arms in freezing cold water, to support barely live turtles. Cleaning towels, cleaning decks, cleaning filter socks, restraining turtle after turtle. Spending sometimes hours doing food prep. There isn’t much these folks won’t do. All with a smile on their face. Not knowing when it is all going to return to normal!

Volunteers help restrain turtles during exams, which include shell measurements

And here’s what Connie Merigo, Manager of Rescue & Rehabilitation, added about this season:

The 2014 sea turtle season began like any other, however it quickly escalated into a serious situation. Hypothermic and debilitated turtles were stranding by the dozens and then by the hundreds; numbers that are unprecedented in our 40+ year history. Volunteers current and past came together to form a well-trained animal care team. Their dedication and long hours, mostly spent wet, permitted us to give the turtles the best care possible. In the end they helped us care for 733 sick or injured turtles, we are deeply grateful for their efforts and dedication to sea turtle conservation and rescue!

Could we have gotten through this season without volunteers? The short answer is…no. We have volunteers from many different backgrounds and experiences who come together to help us out in the field, in Quincy and here on Central Wharf. Interested in more information about volunteering? See here!

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!

We started 2014 off with one of our longest serving volunteers in a very public facing role (Visitor Education Volunteer, Noel Jette!) and now we’re ending 2014 by awarding a volunteer just coming up on her 6-month commitment who has already become a go-to resource in a very critical behind-the-scenes role, the Aquarium Medical Center.

Here’s what Bryce Van Cleef's supervisor, Biologist Kerry McNally, had to say:

Bryce began volunteering with the medical center on Wednesdays in August. Since her arrival, she has been a huge help. She has managed to survive moray eel procedures, iPad disasters and all the other crazy happenings that tend to occur on Wednesdays. She always remains calm and collected during these activities while still bringing a comfort, and later, laughter (when appropriate) to the situation.

Bryce is one of those volunteers that will anticipate our needs. There have been countless times I have gone to ask her to help with something and she has already done it, or in the midst of doing the task before I even have the chance to ask. It is always a relief to know she has our back and we can count on her. She is a very dedicated volunteer, even coming in after an overnight shift with the Coast Guard to help with barb clips that were rescheduled to a day that was not her typical schedule. Bryce is a wonderful person, both professional and fun to work with. We are very pleased to be working with her and she deserves the recognition for all of her hard work.  

Please join our team in congratulating Bryce!

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.

At the New England Aquarium, we have a lot of popular, charismatic animals that visitors flock to. We also have many incredible and understated animals that often go unnoticed. This month we’re awarding a Visitor Education volunteer who increases the impact of all of the animals in our exhibits by bringing attention to animals that otherwise might be overlooked by visitors!

Congratulations to Christine Van Gemert!

Here’s what her supervisor, Sam Herman had to say:

 Christine has been a volunteer for Visitor Education for 2 years. During that time she’s really made her mark on Fridays. She is a positive force both on and off the floor. I look forward to working with her as well as chatting with her behind the scenes. She knows her areas of growth and actively steps up to work on them. Beyond just the normal job duties, she also adds to floor interpretation. She’s brought in multiple models for use both at the Edge of the Sea touch tank and at gallery carts. She loves to interpret less-popular animals (ask her about parrotfish!) and really engages well with our visitors. Her calm demeanor works well in peaking our visitors’ curiosity and inspiring them to become ocean stewards once they leave the Aquarium. Fridays are lucky to have her!

So next time you’re at the Aquarium on A Friday, seek her out to learn something new!

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.

Asking one day per week for six months of our volunteers is asking an incredible commitment and is part of the reason we allow individuals to serve in just one position at a time. With our new program, the live blue™ Service Initiative, volunteers who want to go the extra mile can sign up for flexible opportunities, or also take on a leadership role on top of their traditional position.

October’s Volunteer of the Month is a live blue™ Service Leader in addition to being a leader amongst the Marine Mammals volunteers.  Please join us in congratulating Meaghan Sorce, an incredible volunteer leader.

Meaghan Sorce

Here’s what Kim Cummings and the other Marine Mammal Trainers had to say:

I, along with the other Marine Mammal Trainers, nominate Meaghan Sorce as September’s volunteer of the month. Even though Meaghan has been with our team for under a year she has taken the volunteer position to a whole new level. Her dedication, hard work, and reliability make her the perfect volunteer. Not only does Meaghan volunteer as a full day mammals volunteer she also spends her morning diving the fur seal exhibit going that extra mile to ensure the animal’s habitat is clean. 

She never complains regardless of what she is tasked to do and always has a smile on her face. The volunteers are expected to complete specific tasks throughout the day. We rely on them for the day to run smoothly. They help with diet preparation, vitamins, exhibit maintenance, enrichment, training sessions, cleaning and educational talks. Meaghan excels at all of these tasks, especially visitor interaction. She delivers wonderful public presentations, gearing her talk towards appropriate ages present. She spends quality time with guests answering questions and giving them details about the animals.

Meaghan has an amazing attitude. She never complains and always does more than she is asked to. There is a list of extra tasks to be done if you have spare time. Every Friday Meaghan knocks at least half of those tasks off the list. She always volunteers to go out into the public area and talk during animal enrichment even if she is not assigned to. She will fill her day with tasks that truly benefit the animals, staff and guests at the aquarium.  I cannot imagine a more deserving person for this honor.

Join us in thanking Meaghan for her work with the mammals and with volunteers in the field!
Learn more about how to sign up for the live blue™ Service Initiative.

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

This month we are excited to award Marine Mammal dive volunteer Mark Murray.

The vast majority of our volunteers serve on land, but there are a few who spend almost all of their time underwater! Our Marine Mammal dive volunteers spend their time cleaning the underwater enclosures and exhibits for the harbor seals, fur seals and sea lions, and this month we’re honoring Mark Murray—one of the original Marine Mammal dive volunteers!

Marine Mammal Trainer Patty Schilling writes:
“Mark Murray has been a marine mammal volunteer since the 1990s. He began his time with us as a full-day volunteer and then transitioned to one of our very first dive volunteers. Mark’s commitment to the Aquarium and to our department is amazing. He is willing to give up Saturday mornings with his family to help us vacuum the “deposits” left behind by our Atlantic harbor seals. Mark always comes in with a smile and gets right to work. Before every dive we have to set up dive gear and prepare the vacuum system, but all of this work is a breeze when Mark is here. Sometimes we get to the exhibit and Mark has done it all! The time he has devoted, his upbeat attitude and his dedication to maintaining a high standard of cleanliness in our exhibit are all reasons why Mark is deserving of volunteer of the month.”

Thank you, Mark, for helping to keep our mammals’ underwater space clean and healthy!

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

This month, we are excited to award Giant Ocean Tank volunteer, Luigi DiSisto!

In just less than three years, August’s Volunteer of the Month has served nearly 1,500 hours with the Giant Ocean Tank team. He constantly takes on new responsibilities, both glamorous ones (volunteering for one of the members-only ‘Dive In’ events!) and less glamorous ones (cleaning sand for the renovated GOT…see the picture below J).

Luigi capably handling one of the less glamorous jobs — cleaning gravel destined for the bottom of the Giant Ocean Tank.

Luigi is a Bruins player showing off his Stanley Cup with Maggie the sailor.

Here’s what his supervisor, Sean Marden, had to say…

Luigi has been a consistent powerhouse for the GOT team for many years. He has helped us collect fish, come in early for shark transports and put in countless hours of scrubbing all without complaint. He has helped with the training of numerous volunteers, interns and coops and has done an exemplary job when asked to take on new responsibilities with water quality and the Diver Communication system. Luigi is a prime example of a volunteer who goes the extra mile to help make our exhibit and team the best that it can be. The entire Sunday crew really appreciates everything that Luigi brings to the team and we believe that he should be the volunteer of the month!

We can’t thank you enough for the many areas of support you provided since you started volunteering at NEAq, Luigi!

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

In June, we celebrated a whole department (Water Quality). Now, in July, a whole department nominated a volunteer! The entire Marine Mammals department nominated Sarah Ward to receive the Volunteer of the Month award. She represents many aspects of a great volunteer: She’s personable, versatile, takes initiative and is a great mentor to new volunteers!

Here’s the Marine Mammals Department’s enthusiastic nomination for Sarah:

We would like to nominate Sarah Ward from the Marine Mammal department for Volunteer of the Month! Sarah has been with the mammal department for almost one year. She loves the aquarium so much that she now works in the gift shop as well.  Her customer service skills are superior and she has handled difficult guest interactions professionally and appropriately.  

Sarah gets a smooch from one of the fur seals

This nomination was a group decision from all the staff that has the pleasure of working with Sarah on a weekly basis. Our department, like many others, could not run smoothly and effectively without our committed volunteers. Sarah participates in many tasks that are important to our animal’s welfare including diet preparation and exhibit cleaning. She is also creative in enriching the animal’s lives through play sessions and provides guests with valuable information about the animals during public presentations.  

Sarah takes the initiative to complete tasks and has proved to be a valuable mentor in training new volunteers and interns. She goes above and beyond to ensure the cleanliness of the area by completing the tedious job of locating and removing fish scales that get stuck everywhere. The team is lucky to have Sarah as a mentor for newer volunteers and interns because she is a very thorough and understanding teacher. She follows protocols perfectly and is never afraid to ask questions. She understands the importance of following these protocols for safety reasons and trains people accordingly.  

Sarah has a quiet presence and remains professional at all times. This ability to stay even keeled is highly valued in our department. The joy she gets from working on the mammals team and giving the animals a great day is clear in her expression and attitude. Her positive personality and work ethic makes her a great role model for everyone she is around.

Not only is she a Marine Mammals volunteer, but she also works as staff in the Gift Shop!  Join me in congratulating Sarah!

We are excited to announce that we have chosen our 3rd annual Department of the Month!  In 2012, we honored Giant Ocean Tank volunteers for their work preparing for the renovations. In 2013, we honored Penguin Colony volunteers for their dedication to caring for the birds off-site and moving them back to Central Wharf.

In 2014, we are honoring a critical behind-the-scenes department integral to the success of the New Aquarium Experience, both on Central Wharf and at the Quincy Facility…the entire Water Quality Department!

Tony Wen, Water Quality Volunteer

Central Wharf: Matthew Whitnell, Tony Wen (above), Gimena Suarez, Elizabeth Spinelli, Mahmonir Pooladgar, Lindsay Chapin, Ben Caiella, Anthony Botto
Quincy: Jeff Summers, Alexandria Poole, Rhoda Pham, Christopher Lau,  Stephanie Gildea, Denis Gearin, Carmen Francoy

Here’s what Dr. Charlie Innis had to say about the work of this department:

The Environmental Quality Laboratory plays a critical role in maintaining the health of our animals. The lab monitors a wide variety of chemical, microbiological and physical parameters in the air and water of our exhibits, rehabilitation facilities and quarantine facilities. In addition to measuring these parameters, the lab team works closely with husbandry and facilities staff to react to environmental problems and to proactively develop systems to prevent such problems.

And Nina Fischer, Environmental Quality Manager, talks about the value of volunteers in this work:

Our volunteers play a very important part in our day-to-day work: they help us collect water samples from the big systems at Central Wharf, organize the bottles so we can process all the testing requests efficiently and then help us perform all the water testing required for that day. We routinely check more than a dozen different water quality parameters and handle at least 100 different samples per day (this includes both the Central Wharf and the Quincy location—attention to detail is definitely the number one skill that’s required. Our volunteers make the difference between a day just being busy and a day being crazy. We really appreciate their time and efforts, the positive attitude they bring to the lab, the questions they ask and enjoy seeing them master the more difficult tests, gaining confidence and enough background knowledge over time so they will be able point out results that are not what they should be.

Many thanks to the Water Quality volunteers both on Central Wharf and at the Quincy Facility for keeping our animals in a healthy environment!