Most of you all know that I want to work with marine mammals. AKA I want to be a dolphin trainer. I want to wear the long wetsuit and get into the huge tanks to train belugas whales, killer whales, dolphins, and sea lions. You may think this sounds sophmoric. I believe it sounds inspirational.
My first trip to SeaWorld was in the 1st grade. My family and I visited the one in Orlando, Florida. I loved the dolphins. I loved the whales. I loved everything about SeaWorld except that as a trainer you would have to touch fish! Trainers and vistiors tried everything in the world to make me feed a dolphin but the thought of touching a fish made my stomach turn.
10 years later…
I was sitting in my Biology class my sophomore year and my professor Dr. Tuberty said something a long the lines of make sure you pursue a job that you would want to wake up every morning and do. The only job I could think of was Dolphin Training. Immediately after I called my parents told them what I thought of as good news, and that I wanted to drop out of ASU and transfer out to the coast. Not a good idea to tell the people who are paying your tuition. After a year my dad saw how serious I was about dolphin training so he decided to take me out to the SeaWorld at San Antonio.
When I found out that news I immediately emailed the trainers and asked if I could at least meet with one to discuss what it takes to train these mammals. So when we arrived at SeaWorld I met Matt Poole the head trainer of the belugas. He took myself as well as my parents and brother behind the scenes to meet the belugas, he let me feed them ( I TOUCHED A FISH!!!!), pet them, and do commands with them. He then took us to the dolphin research area where not even behind the scenes people get to go. My parents saw how much I really wanted to train dolphins and finally accepted that their daughter was going to chase her dream.
Since then my mom has found papers that I had written throughout elementary school explaining my career goals of working with dolphins and whales. I wrote a paper on where I saw myself in 3rd grade… and it was at SeaWorld. I wrote multiple research papers on marine mammals. Obviously this is what I am supposed to do. Chase down my dream!
I want to be a teacher after I accomplish my dream. After I do what I want to do, after I prove my friends wrong, after I show that it is possible to accomplish your dreams in life. When I find the right time to have a classroom full of students I hope to share with them this story and inspire them to chase down their dream.
