Informal Education:
Formal Education:
Animal Jobs:
Publications:
Tributes:
General Background:
I have lived with animals my entire life. I got my first reptiles on my 8th birthday; I had gotten one Brown and three Green anoles. The anoles I came to realize make excellent starter pets for reptile enthusiasts. When I was 12, I had gotten my first skink; a Schneider's skink to be exact. This one turned out to be my female although I didn't know that at the time. Shortly after I had bought a different species of skink, one which I unfortunately can't remember. My female Schneider's skink apparently disliked her new cagemate and soon killed him, thus my first lesson learned about skinks (be careful of who you house them with and how you do it). About a year after buying my female Schneider's skink, I got my male Schneider's skink. I've owned this species now for over fourteen years and have learned quite a lot from them.
In February 1997 I joined Dr. Rod Sacharnoski's Juko-Kai organization and started my martial arts training in Shorin-ryu karate (Japanese style of Martial Arts). I had been trained by a detective sergeant of a local police department. Come 2001, I made the rank of 1st degree brown belt. Later that year I had to withdraw from the school because it was time for me to head off to college. Once in college I attended a local Hapkido (Korean style of Martial Arts) class for a while. While doing my college internship down in Texas, I had attended a Shotokan Karate class which I held a white belt in.
I graduated high school back in June 2001 and had decided to head off to a tiny flight school named Daniel Webster College located in Nashua, NH (One of this country's top aviation colleges). The reason for flight school was because aviation is my second biggest interest. Exiting high school I was ignorant in thinking I could not get a good job in the field of wildlife. After two years of flying airplanes and attempting to get through the rigorous flight program filled with math (not one of my gifts), I started doing some research into my true passion, wildlife and began exiting the flight program. I discovered there are good jobs in the wildlife and environmental field and it was at this time I did an internship with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. It turned out that the biologist there as well as another intern had both went to the college I eventually graduated from, and had highly recommended going there to pursue any wildlife profession.
I graduated with both my BT in Wildlife Management and my AAS degree in Fisheries and Wildlife Technology from SUNY Cobleskill. I had been enrolled there from August 2004 through May 2008. Amongst my many wildlife classes, I was required to take a 15 week course in herpetology (the study of reptiles and amphibians), which of course I loved every second of. I am glad the biologist suggested Cobleskill, because I have learned a lot. In addition to the knowledge I've acquired, I have also had great opportunities such as meeting New York State's head herpetologist. I met the state herpetologist while "spelunking" in the original Howe's Caves (portion closed to tourists). One of my teachers works closely with the company that owns the property as a liaison between the company and the college. My teacher found an old snake skeleton in a portion of the cave and asked the herpetologist to take a look, then asked my class if anybody would like to join them. Currently I am applying to graduate school to pursue a Masters degree in my field.
A couple of the wildlife jobs I have done during school breaks and for my internship included working with the Piping plover (New York State endangered species of shore bird) for New York State office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation (also known as New York State Parks) and I did the same work for my local county parks department. Yes I was one of those darn plover people putting up the string fencing on the beaches; sometimes adored for doing so, often disliked. I've also worked with domestic animals at Canine Cosmetician (local pet shop by the college), and Petco. From January 7, 2008 - July 2008 I had been employed with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service as an intern. My job entailed trapping and tracking bobcat, monitoring the endangered Kemp Ridley sea turtle, dove banding, and conducting road kill surveys. I interned again with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service back in October - December 2008, this time in upstate New York. I was doing various work such as: visitor services, habitat management, working with invasive plant species, general refuge work, data entry, and much more. From March-September 2009,I worked with the National Park Service as a seasonal Biological Science Technician down in North Carolina. I once again was working with federally threatened and endangered shore birds and sea turtles. From June - November 2010, I was once again a seasonal Biological Science Technician, this time for the United States Fish and Wildlife Service down in Maryland helping to eradicated exotic plant species from the refuge. My dream job would be to work as a wildlife biologist specializing in endangered species such as the tiger salamander (NYS Endangered) since my largest interest lies with reptiles and amphibians. The reason behind the endangered species is due to the fact that I have always wanted to help animals and I figured who better to help than those that need it the most (even if it means disrupting humans' recreation time so that another species can survive on this planet; priorities, you know). My dream is to improve populations and habitats of animals and plants of all species. This dream can only be met if humans learn to live cooperatively with nature rather than continue down the destructive path we are currently on. The good news is that the mindset of people is changing for the better. I hope that through my work I will help continue this change.
I have a Species Profile article on Schneider's skinks published in Reptiles Magazine's March 2007 issue as can be seen below. The reason I wrote the article was actually due to this website. One of the editors at Reptiles Magazine saw my website and asked me if I would be interested in writing the article. She felt there was a lot of useful information and that it was laid out in an easy to understand fashion.
I would like to tribute part of my success to my grandparents. My grandparents helped encourage my interest in wildlife through the trips to the beach as a child growing up, searching for sea creatures (star fish, minnows, horseshoe crabs, crabs, etc.), and also by the conversations I've had with them. They will surely be missed.
My Grandfather - Dec. 7, 2006
My Grandmother - Oct. 28, 2007
