Students are hooked

Becoming an aquarium manager takes more than just an interest in marine science. You have to live it.

Larissa Clary, Allicia Sebastinelli, and Tim Ruiz, all 22, are student managers at Orange Coast College’s teaching aquarium on the Costa Mesa campus. Ruiz is the official manager; Clary and Sebastinelli are manager emeriti, students who have previously served as managers and now advise Ruiz.

OCC student Suzanne Welsh is a manager trainee.

As assistant aquarium managers, the three are responsible for feeding the fish, cleaning the tanks and making sure the 12 tanks are running properly.

“They’re like having another teacher with me,” Orange Coast College Marine Science professor Dennis Kelly said.

“First of all they have to do a terrific job in the aquarium class,” Kelly said. “They have to show they’re really serious.”

During the 16-week class, Kelly evaluates the students, then handpicks successful candidates to become aquarium managers. Once they’re selected, they must complete what the students call “aquarium boot camp.”

Ruiz just finished.

“We were in here every day, all summer long,” Ruiz said. “It’s definitely grueling work.”

The student managers are in charge off 2,200 gallons of both tropical and cold water tanks. The managers advise the other students on how to use equipment, feed the fish and handle the aquarium’s 12 tanks. They also catch new animals for the aquarium and purchase any necessary supplies.

In return for their hard work, the aquarium managers get a paid internship with invaluable hands-on experience.

“You make a lot of really good connections,” Clary said.

For all three, a marine biology major has always been a goal.

“I remember my first trip to Sea World when I was 3, and I was hooked from that point,” Ruiz said.

Because Orange Coast doesn’t offer a marine biology major, the three are planning to transfer to Cal State Long Beach, one of a handful of schools in Southern California that offer the major.

Although they can’t complete their marine biology major here, the managers said OCC is where they fostered their love for the science.

“It’s a really awesome program,” Sebastinelli said.

The students have different dreams of where a career in marine biology might take them, but they all agree that being an assistant manager at the school aquarium has helped push them along.

“There’s always something new that kind of sparks interest,” Clary said.