Joshua Liechty ’19 and Keila Flores ’20

Keila Flores is an environmental & marine science major from Goshen, and Joshua Liechty is a molecular biology/biochemistry major from Archbold, Ohio. They spent the summer of 2018 completing internships in marine biology with Old Dominion University in the Florida Keys.

“This picture was taken on our first day out on the water during my marine biology internship with Old Dominion University. Some of the interns and grad students went diving for lobsters at a reef, while my classmate Joshua and I snorkeled above. It was a beautiful day, and the visibility of the water was crystal clear. While snorkeling, we admired colorful reef fish and even spotted a large bull shark in the water.

My internship required long, hot days out on the water, as well as hours in the lab, but it was all worth it to have a once in a lifetime experience that taught me many things.”

“In this photo, I am in the bay along Long Key, helping to move sponges to new sites for the water quality project. The sponge I am holding is called a wooly, identifiable by its pimply surface, dark brown color and squishy body.

These bricks were difficult to handle at first, especially without kicking up sediment which made visibility awful, but handling the bricks daily made so that it quickly became second nature.”