Jesse Aguilar Senior Project

4.5 hours today 118.5 hours today My third and final week went really well. I am grateful to have the experience that I did with such great people by my side. I felt a real connection to South Florida’s wilderness and the people I worked with. Sandoway has opened up my eyes to passions that I will most likely pursue in college. For the last few days of the week, I have been working outside in the pre-summer heat. I tried my hardest to make the best of the time I had left this week. Unfortunately for me, the week went by really quickly. I felt that there was so much left to do (in terms of tasks and spending more time with everyone) with so little time left. Though I am relieved by the fact that I did do a lot and I worked very hard. The more and more I think about it the more it seems like it paid off! The most unexpected thing happened today as I was leaving Sandoway for the last time. A man who only spoke Spanish asked me for assistance after he asked me if I spoke it myself. He

5/18/19 2:30pm 4.5 hours today 114 hours total Today seemed like a short day compared to the usual. I spent about an hour and a half cleaning and maintaining an animal enclosure. I cleaned the glass and scooped the mulch. I lay down a new layer of mulch as well. I sanitized the rocks and fake plants in the enclosure as well. I worked at the cash register too. One more work day of senior project! So glad that I worked for such an amazing place with such great people.

5/17/19 4:40pm 4.5 hours today 109.5 hours total I got to Sandoway today and jumped right into it! Max, Evan (director of education), and I all did some garden and landscape work. This included stuff pulling out weeds, trimming hedges and raking leaves. After that, it was a really slow day. After work today Max and I went to the beach and swam out to one of the pieces of the SS Inchulva. I’ll include a picture of the boiler which is just one of the many pieces. It’s just a giant cylindrical piece of the shipwreck. It’s hollow inside so eels, lobster, crabs, and other critters like to live in there.

5/16/19 5:10pm 4.5 hours 105 hours total Another school group came in today. Only this time they were all home-schooled kids. They were a bit younger than the previous kids, but it was fun to have them and their families visit. Today, I got to get to know a volunteer named Max. He's a really good kid and we share a ton of similar interests. I invited him to the beach tomorrow after we finish working. Believe it or not, he's on a senior project too! Also, we got a to scale whale shark jaw! Picture above.

5/15/19 5:20pm 4.5 hours today 100.5 hours total Yet another school field trip came today! It was entertaining to see all the kids get scared when the nurse sharks ate. Since they eat on the surface of the pool water they make a large slurping sound. The sound comes from the air pocket and their suction cup mouths. It’s really interesting stuff. I’m really not sure how many more school groups are visiting for the rest of the week. The kids are respectful of the space and the animals so I enjoy when they visit.

Chomp the American Alligator 5/14/19 7:20pm 8 hours today 96 hours total Another school field trip came to Sandoway today. It was a good time because the kids were attentive and polite. After they left, no one visited for the rest of the day. So it was super duper slow. Which normally I don't mind, but today wasn't great. I did make a couple of mathematical errors with my hours. I'm working to correct those currently. I'll get back to work tomorrow morning!