As I sit here reflecting on this past week at the Ocean Core Academy (June 8th-15th, 2025), held at the Gulf Coast Repository in College Station, Texas, I try to think of the best way to communicate that experience to those closest to me; those in my inner circle having varying levels in understanding of the content filling the intensive course in which a handful of other undergraduates and I participated. This being one of the main focuses of the week’s workshops, it seemed like a natural focus for the overall reflective process: How do we communicate science? How do we get others interested in learning and reading about science? How do we make it most accessible?

 

 

 

 

 

Over the course of the week, the other participants of the 2025 Ocean Core Academy and I: read two graphic early learning/tween-aged books (Kurtz & Feagan, 2016; Kurtz & Kurtz, 2022), watched a YouTube short about deep ocean drilling discoveries, including voices and faces of scientist met this past week (BBC, 2002), saw beautiful artwork based off expeditions, core samples, data and graphs (Pelto, Jill, 2017), and developed research questions in a team setting; we engaged in the scientific process to analyze and report the findings by means of an informal, conversational-style, poster forum. Additionally, we were exposed to a wide array of career pathways and cultivated a network of peers and mentors (Kraft, K, 2025). This included one-on-one interactions with mentor scientists, specialists and technicians, up to and including the director of the facility/program; while personally completing a written, scientific research paper for a final in my Ecology course at the University of Washington, Tacoma. All these different ways that science is communicated; but was one better than another? Was there one way to communicate that ruled them all?

The simple answer is: No; there isn’t one single way that science is communicated that is better than any other- all ways, applied judiciously, are the best ways to communicate science. You must know your audience! I would not, for example, expect someone who has never experienced the Gulf Coast Repository to know what a Section Half Multisensor Imaging Logger (SHMSL; pronounced “Sh-mizz-le” for short) is, or what data values from an oceanic core this machine can identify [Light vs Dark, Color Reflectance (intensities of red and yellow on the visible light spectrum), and Magnetic Susceptibility, for curious minds]. I wouldn’t expect them to know that this data helps scientists to properly identify the color, shade and hue of said color, and if it can/cannot be affected by a magnet (and to what degree/by how much….but that was a different machine, for a different discussion); and that scientists can determine exactly what types of grains create the components of that certain oceanic core, at whatever depth in which the analysis occurred, based on the results from these high-tech, highly-calibrated, well-oiled machines.  In some cases, they can even link the found sediment grains/layers to local geological events such as volcanoes, earthquakes, landslides, and even meteors (called provenance)! I didn’t know any of that before my own trip to the repository.

I would, however, be able to tell them about the amazing people I met while participating in science that makes my mind, and face, light up with excitement. That is something most of my inner circle can see and understand, even if they don’t really understand “what the words coming out of your mouth mean”, they see the joy written in my smile. I would tell them about the laughter and the huddled whispered conspiracies of a trivia game that had gone very, hilariously, wrong, about shared birthdays, craft nights, dive bars, poolside conversations and those darn Texas alligators. I would talk about lightning storms, bright red cardinals, Mary Poppins umbrellas, panorama photography shenanigans and angry blue crawfish; and there would certainly be some sniggering if I mentioned Carhart duck coveralls and steel toed boots to the rescue! These are the things that need to be communicated; the memories of life being lived well, the learning that went beyond the data and figures.

The Ocean Core Academy experience was intense yet exhilarating, in a way that caused me to grow, expand, and shift my perspective of the world. I saw people become friends, and more, that may have never met had their love of science not been a shared endeavor. I had never known so little time, just seven days, could cause such an immense change in my life. These are the sorts of programs that we need to preserve, and encourage, to promote, at all costs; worlds collide in the most beautiful way in learning platforms such as this. If anyone is on the fence about whether to put yourself out there: Do it. Send out that application. Brush off that rejection letter. Risk that outlier opportunity. You will always land with those you are meant to find and in the places that help you shine.