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Title
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Maria Natiello
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Type
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Primary: Teacher Argonaut
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Operation
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Resilient Planet
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Mission:
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Mission 1: Invaders , Mission 3: Paradise Lost , Mission 4: Paradise Found
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Created On
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3/10/2008
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From: Resilient Planet Mission 1: Invaders , Mission 3: Paradise Lost , Mission 4: Paradi> (and more) |
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Maria Natiello Read more about Maria Natiello, a Teacher Argonaut from Operation: Resilient Planet. |
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Maria Natiello
Teacher Argonaut,
Mahopac, NY
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During the eleven years of being involved with The JASON Project, Maria has always dreamed of some day of being a Teacher Argonaut. She says she has always loved and respected nature – and even started an Environmental Club when she was in high school. She attended SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry for her undergraduate degree. She also has a passion for sea turtles and that passion was intensified when doing an internship at the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation in Florida. She back-packed through Europe and gained more experiences learning about various environments there.
She has had a great experience with The JASON Project over the years and believes it is one reason she can be a very good Teacher Argonaut for Operation: Resilient Planet and its ecology content. However, she wants us to know that the best reason why she makes an ideal Teacher Argonaut is that she loves kids!
In her own words
On her Operation: Resilient Planet experiences
Boot Camp was about to begin and the Teacher Argos were waiting at the airport for all nine of the Student Argonauts to arrive. Chirag was the first to arrive at about 9:30 am. He really was there the whole day! As the Argos arrived it was very cool to see how everyone slowly started talking and warming up to each other. Austin came in from Alaska and was working on very little sleep. We had to keep him awake so he could get on our time schedule! Brittany, Allison and Ada were all on the same flight from Houston. Brittany and Allison found each other in the airport so they were able to get to know each other on the plane. Honestly, you would think that they have known each other for 10 years! It wasn’t just kids coming in though. Caleb Schutz (the President of JASON) also came in along with a few other JASON and National Geographic staff. It was a long and emotional day. By the time we left it was dinnertime. As exhausted as we all were, it was hard to get to sleep. The excitement level was astronomical!
Thoughts on Dr. Russell Cuhel
We got to meet Dr Russell Cuhel and his wife, Dr. Carmen Aguilar. They have an amazing life! They are doing the research they love and making a difference. They even got married on a boat in huge waves. We went out on Lake Michigan on the Neeskay with them looking for zebra and quagga mussels. It was rough water but we managed to get to one test site out in the deeper water. We were able to get the ROV to record video from the bottom of the lake and also got some samples using the vacuum mechanism. It was so cool to use the actual instruments that we have learned about.
Thoughts on Dr. Sylvia Earle
It’s hard to even begin to express all the ways in which this experience has changed my life. I have learned a new way of thinking from Dr. Earle about water and my relationship to it and everything in it. She feels that we are truly connected to every living thing. If we destroy these beautiful places, we are destroying ourselves! Dr. Earle is so inspiring because she doesn’t just preach this lesson... she lives it. She is a role model that we can look to when trying to figure out what we, as individuals, can do to have a positive impact on marine ecosystems.
Thoughts on Dr. Enric Sala
We really got a taste of Enric Sala’s personality. We met him at the Scripps Institute and he decided to ride with us to La Jolla Cove where we would be doing some filming of the transect data collection. On the way, Enric received a call on his cell from the film crew. Instead of telling them that he was with us and on his way, he decided to play a prank. He told them that he was 30 minutes away and that his car had broken down. He really played it up and had them in a panic. We were all trying our best not to laugh out loud and ruin it. We expected him to tell them the truth before hanging up but instead he said that the tow truck had arrived and that he had to go! We were hysterical!
What JASON means to me
There are so many wonderful experiences that couldn’t even be put down here. This has been the fastest week and yet I can’t even believe what we have accomplished in such a short time! We have gotten to know each other very well and learned amazing things. I know that this will be a life changing experience for all of us! It was sad to say good-bye but I know that I will carry this experience with me for a long time to come.
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