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Jen
Ph. D. student, Aquatic Animal Health, University of Florida
Adventure Camp Alumni: SeaWorld San Antonio, SeaWorld Orlando and Busch Gardens Tampa

From the time she was six years old, Jen knew she wanted to make a difference in the world by caring, protecting and saving animals. As a teenager, Jen got up-close and hands-on with dolphins, penguins, manatees, rhinos, giraffe and other exotic animals at Adventure Camp at SeaWorld San Antonio, SeaWorld Orlando and Busch Gardens Tampa. As a young adult, she helped study and protect manatees in Belize, survey humpback whales in Australia, research Amazon River dolphins in Brazil and monitor sea turtle nests in Florida. Today Jen is pursuing a doctorate in Aquatic Animal Health at the University of Florida's College of Veterinary Medicine. She plans turn her passion for animals into a not only a professional career, but a life mission.
 
 

The first time Jen met a lemur at Busch Gardens Adventure Camp, she says that she was "definitely more nervous than the animals were."

  

At Adventure Camp, Jen had the  chance to get an insider's view of what it takes to care for animals. Campers even help out in the animal habitats to keep them clean. "We always had such a ball. It could be 6 o'clock in the morning, shoveling piles of hippo dung, and somehow it was still a blast."
 

Hometown:

   Buffalo, New York
College/degree:  

Long Island University-Southampton, B.Sc. Psychology/Biology
University of Wales-Bangor, M.Sc. Marine Mammal Science
University of Florida, Ph.D. Veterinary Medical Sciences (Aquatic Animal Health)
Favorite animal:  

I don't have just one, I can narrow it down to the top ten though:
Sirenians (Manatees and Dugongs)
Amazon River Dolphins
Humpback Whales
Asian Elephants
Cownose Stingrays
Penguins
Blue Sea Slugs
Sloths
Wombats
Orangutans
"I have an awesome job" moment:   Assisting with a health assessment of a wild manatee in Belize
Messiest day on the job:   Thigh deep in drainage ditch sludge during a manatee rescue
Adventure Camp memory:   It's got to be sitting in the penguin exhibit at SeaWorld with a rockhopper penguin chick on my lap, or holding a two toed sloth at Busch Gardens. But preparing fish buckets for the first time is something I'll never forget either.
What I wish I knew then:   No one expects you to know everything.
And the job you want may not exist...yet. Follow your passion and you will find your niche.
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