...J&J's Excellent Adventure: A weekend with the Our World-Underwater Scholarship Society

No accomplishments in life are possible without the help of others who care about you and encourage you to follow your dreams. My family and husband, naturally, play a huge role in my life by providing this backbone of support - but sometimes other folks step in and get involved too. Enter the Our World-Underwater Scholarship Society (OWUSS).

Go back in time to 1999 - I'm getting ready to graduate from the University of New Hampshire, I've been bitten by the travel bug during my junior year abroad in Australia, I'm obsessed with diving, and I've got to find a job post-graduation. While I was wandering down a hallway in a building I did not normally visit at UNH I saw a flashy poster hanging on a professor's door. The woman, I don't remember her name, thought the diving scholarship described on the poster sounded neat so she hung it up despite the fact she knew nothing more about this organization. I looked it up on the internet and knew I had to apply and that I had to do it immediately because the deadline was only one week away! About a month later I received the 1999 scholarship, generously sponsored by Rolex, and embarked on a fantastic year of diving, education, and travel.

Although I always knew I wanted to head into the field of marine biology, I didn't have much career direction at the time of graduation aside from knowing that my life had to involve marine invertebrates. The scholarship helped me hone my career vision and dive skills by allowing me to dabble in many potential underwater professions. Furthermore, I learned during this year that it is possible to become a better naturalist just by visiting a place and seeing it with your own eyes. For example, I was able to spend a week diving in the Galápagos (the very blue photo has me in it with a bunch of hammerhead sharks over my head). I didn't work with scientists during this week, I just went diving as much as physically possible. Thus, I can't say I collected data underwater in this archipelago but the experience of diving in such an awesome environment was priceless "research" for this budding naturalist.

Julie back in 2000 with a Galápagos tortoise at the Charles Darwin Research Station

Another experience that really sticks out was the month I spent in Egypt, where a former scholar and my host, Dr. Stacey Tighe, was working at the time (Stacey now lives and works in Indonesia - Jay and I were able to see her this past November). While in Hurghada I worked at a dive shop in exchange for a rescue diving class. My instructor was a huge Dutch man who sank while wearing a wetsuit, making towing "rescues" quite the challenge. I also spent some time with a few of the Egyptian National Park Service divers doing simple things like installing and maintaining mooring buoys. Sounds boring but ya know what? That kind of work is really important to the health of the reef (boats dropping anchors on coral = bad times for the coral) and I enjoyed the time I spent with the park divers because they were such a fun group of guys who seemed passionate about their jobs.

The Egyptian Red Sea

There are so many other stories and experiences - like my month in Northern Ireland, my drives cross-country, working on my divemaster certification at Catalina Island, heading out to sea with NOAA and WHOI, the list goes on and on and on. And during this time something funny happens - you realize that although you are traveling alone you are surrounded by a larger, extended tribe of supporters, hosts, and sponsors. Suddenly I had gained a huge new family and they were cheering me along during my year and beyond. I owe them much. During my scholarship year I gained a lot of experience with underwater research, which undoubtedly helped me land my first job as a diver for Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska. After graduate school, the scholarship helped again....I had spent some time diving with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) during my scholarship year and (guess what!?) the first job I applied for out of graduate school was at the DMF! I got the job and I have no doubt that my year as the scholar helped me land that fantastic job. Thus, every step I take in my career is backed by experience and support from the scholarship family.

Fast forward from 1999 to April 2013. The scholarship's annual event is now based in New York City but the family is still the same - it has just grown! Rolex now sponsors scholars from three parts of the world: North America, Europe, and Australasia. It had been years since I had been back to catch up with my old pals so Jay and I decided to head back for the big weekend (which also timed perfectly with Geoff and Stef's wedding and school break for the Barber-Justs).

Jay and I feel like we played a small role in the selection of the new North American Rolex scholar - Jeff Hester - because he worked as a summer undergraduate researcher at Shannon Point Marine Center (SPMC, Jay's employer) several years ago. We discussed the scholarship back then and he decided to apply for it and, obviously, he got it! This is a photo of all the folks from SPMC at the Friday night gathering. Shannon Point is a tiny marine lab and there was a ton of representation at the OWUSS event because of Jay, Jeff, and a underwater research internship that OWUSS sponsors. In this photo we have Jay, Jeff (2013 NA Scholar), Jenna (2011 OWUSS AAUS intern), Annie (2012 AAUS intern), and Nate (the SPMC diving safety officer, sponsor of the interns).

The big Saturday night event was held at the New York City Yacht Club.

Chloé (2013 EU Scholar), Jay, Julie, Ali (2000 Scholar), and Bob (since our scholarships over a decade ago Ali and I have stayed friends - I wish Ali and Bob lived closer to us)

The Yacht Club did not mess around with the food - it was phenomenal. Here is our first course of morels, pea shoots, fresh peas, and ravioli in a white sauce. My dinner consisted of braised endives, stuffed artichoke hearts, and some fancy sauces. Shouts out to the chef! I can't speak for the non-veggos - but I was very happy.

Karl Huggins' photo of the scholars and their watches. We have to do this shot every year because none of this would happen without Rolex. My career is in a great place thanks to the experiences they helped me gain through their sponsorship. Thank you.....

I'll leave this post on a different note. I had not been back to NYC since the 9/11 memorial was built and new World Trade Center buildings started to rise. During some free time, a small group of us headed to the memorial site. Words cannot express how one feels standing in this place.....so I will let my photos speak on their own.