When I was 12, I underwent a major surgery where surgeons cut my achilles tendons and I had to relearn how to walk. Throughout my recovery, I took online SCUBA diving courses while I was in casts in the hopes that I could go diving upon my recovery. Once I was out of the casts, I spent months waking up early to go to physiotherapy and doing grueling exercises just to be able to walk unassisted. I was eventually approved by doctors to go on my first dive- albeit with short fins- and that experience was when I fell in love with the ocean, desperately wanting to protect it. After that, I never really stopped working towards my next dive and I even moved thousands of kilometers away to go to school near the coast. As I learned more about the problems facing the ocean and the underlying societal systems that prevented change, these challenges seemed far too large to tackle and I began to gravitate towards molecular biology instead of conservation. I took this course as a last-ditch effort to reconnect with my passion.

Looking very startled on my very first dive. 

Oddly enough, one of the clearest instances that demonstrates how Biology 420 has impacted me came while I was watching a documentary one evening. It was Netflix’s newest ‘hard-hitting’ piece entitled Seaspiracy, which aimed to expose many of the problems with the fishing industry. As I was watching, I was shocked at how annoyed I became with some of the conclusions this film was drawing and how they were framing ocean conservation. It was only when I began telling my family and friends about the documentary that I realized how passionate I was about the issue. At the start of this semester, I would have had very little to say about this film but now I was able to critically engage with it and had strong arguments to support my assertions. Biology 420 has helped me re-connect with my passion for ocean conservation in a more focused manner and helped me to set goals for my future.

I would love to say that this semester helped me discover my love of policy and resource management, but that is just not the case. Learning about these topics was valuable, but the experience only solidified my decision to stay closer to the realm of biology. However, as I discovered more about the topics that did not interest me as much, I also gained an appreciation for experts in the field and how important collaboration is in conservation. Amanda’s ‘onion world’ view really imprinted in my mind how working together with people who specialize in areas where you are weak is so critical. This sentiment helped carry me through the course when I felt overwhelmed by the magnitude of different topics.

A painting I made of the view across Burrard inlet from Stanley Park.

I really enjoyed Steve Palumbi’s talk because it changed how I thought about my contributions to ocean conservation and helped me connect with ocean optimism.  Even though he acknowledged that he alone can not reconstruct society to reduce carbon emissions or implement good fisheries management, he thinks that his job as a marine biologist is to preserve as much as possible in the immediate future so that there is something to grow from when we are able to reduce the pressures facing the ocean. His talk made me realize that there is room for molecular biology in conservation and my legacy can be to contribute to a better future by preserving things long enough and screaming loud enough until society is able to catch up, and we are able to “make the Anthropocene something we can grow into" (Palumbi, 2021).

One of the skills we worked on in class was science communication, and this topic sparked so much joy for me that I found myself going a bit overboard while working on some of my projects. It was an absolute delight to get to express my learning in diverse ways after so many years of dry papers. This class allowed us to be creative in science communication, and it paired well as I was preparing for my honours thesis. Organizing and disseminating information about topics that I am passionate about is one of the things that I find myself thinking about even in my free time. I knew that I enjoyed giving presentations and making visual media surrounding science topics, but it has only been the last few months that I realized how much I want to teach biology.  I can’t wait to try my hand as a teaching assistant next year. This summer, I am going to be creating a personal website (undoubtedly with some similarities to my ePortfolio) and I am so excited to create a video abstract about my thesis and maybe even one about my first publication!

A painting I made of the wake of a boat in the ocean. This is meant to represent the mystery of the ocean and how I think of it as the final frontier. 

I took a lot away from this course, but that was because of how much I invested in my own learning. This was the only class where I always had my camera on, and I really made it a priority to participate and watch every lecture beforehand. The assignments were often fun and our first term project was an amazing opportunity to learn new techniques. In the second week of classes after I read about the project in the syllabus, I got the idea for my poem and I wrote it all in one day. Since I decided that that was far too easy, I then taught myself how to create digital drawings and spent many more hours than the project warranted trying to make things look how I wanted. It’s not every day you have to try and make a cartoon abalone look cute (the first draft was horrifying). One thing I would do differently if I could is to improve my reflection on indigenous issues. I had a huge assignment due for a different course and I really wish I could have put more into that one because it was very impactful to me. Overall, I think that this ePortfolio reflects my effort in the course and I think it was an excellent way to reconnect with the various topics I have learned this semester.  

Ugly cartoon abalone.