Get to Know These Aquarium Volunteers

April is Global Volunteer Appreciation Month, and we’ve been celebrating all the volunteers who give back to the Aquarium in a big way. Volunteers play an essential role in helping us work toward our mission. Today, there are more than 400 volunteers working across every department—and that adds up to around 58,000 of hours of work to protect the blue planet each year!

Meet three of our current volunteers below to learn why they chose to volunteer at the Aquarium and what they enjoy most about their work.

Haydee, Conservation Learning Volunteer

I was a Boston Public School elementary teacher. Many, many years ago, the City of Boston and the Museum of Science, the Aquarium, Franklin Park Zoo, and MIT had a summer program for teachers for one week in July. We got to spend the entire week in one of these institutions.

I attended one summer at the Aquarium, which had an education program, and we were behind galleries, at the beach visiting real tide pools, and more. That week that we were there, the Aquarium had rescued a pregnant seal. Unfortunately, the mother died, but they saved the baby seal.

I was lucky to hold the baby seal in a towel and give a bottle to the baby seal. How I can’t forget that! After that marvelous week, I thought to myself, “When I retire, I would like to be a volunteer at the Aquarium.”

Approximately 30 years later, I came to apply. I didn’t know anything about marine biology or mammals. So I didn’t expect too much. When they called me for an interview, I couldn’t believe it. Now the rest is history.

When I see the visitors leaving the gallery smiling, or the “Oh!!” expression that they have learned something about that gallery, it makes me feel good.

Trudi, Freshwater Aquarist Volunteer

I wanted to become a volunteer at the Aquarium because I am passionate about marine conservation and education. This was a great opportunity to contribute and to continue learning if my career ever takes me back into conservation research. Through volunteering, I have really enjoyed learning about all types of aquatic life and meeting other people who share the same passion for the marine world.

Matt, Photography Skills Volunteer

I became a volunteer at the Aquarium because I was looking for opportunities to develop my photography skills in a professional environment, and the Aquarium offered me that. I like that the way in which my work is going to support the Aquarium is very clear.