trailblazing oceanography grad will be ocean educator in florida keysthis may victoria scriven 19 will be one of the first two aggies to graduate with an undergraduate degree in oceanographymay 10 2019victoria scriven speaking at the 2019 geosciences scholarship appreciation banquet (photo credit: daniela weaver photography)victoria scriven during a study abroad in the peru andes (photo courtesy of victoria scriven)victoria scriven ‘19 is a trailblazer as the very first texas a&m university undergraduate student to ever major in oceanography she has helped lead the way for younger aggies pursuing ocean science the department of oceanography in the college of geosciences established the oceanography undergraduate program two years ago in the fall of 2017 and scriven jumped at the chance to change her major to oceanography scriven knew in high school that she wanted to study the relationship between the ocean and environmental problems when she first applied to texas a&m she chose the closest thing she could get to an ocean science degree: environmental science with a minor in oceanography it was during her junior year while taking a marine pollution class that scriven began hearing whispers throughout the college of geosciences about the possibility of an oceanography major becoming reality during the course of the semester the class dove deep into marine pollution scriven says marine pollution opened her eyes to the impact she wanted to make in the world she knew having a degree in oceanography would help her get there marine pollution is what sucked me in scriven said it was a good mixture of what was happening in the world around us but also that chemical oceanography side so it was very relevant and everyday it was something new and something kind of concerning soon oceanography was approved as a major at texas a&m and she transferred immediately getting at-sea experience over the next two years scriven had incredible hands-on ocean experiences she knew only the department of oceanography at texas a&m could provide to her from weekly cruises after hurricane harvey studying the coastal impact and observing the ocean to a study abroad program trekking in the andes of peru to traveling to naples italy to participate in the high-impact learning research program seawater scriven and the other oceanography majors were frequently given opportunities to learn from and research with world-class faculty there have been so many things ive gotten to be a part of because of this department she said what scriven didnt know at the time of transferring majors was just how much the faculty would be fighting for her education scriven believes their dedication to the undergraduate oceanography majors is like nowhere else in the world "they push you right up to the edge and say 'if you fall we've got you but why don't you go ahead and jump' that's just our department and i think that's a unique thing to us"victoria scriven receiving the first excellence in oceanography award pictured with dr debbie thomas dean of the college of geosciences and dr shari yvon-lewis head of the department of oceanography (photo by chris mouchyn texas a&m geoscience)victoria scriven and fellow oceanography student at a tamu ocean outreach event with the franklin isd school science fair (photo courtesy of victoria scriven)establishing an oceanography peer mentor program it was because of the encouragement from her professors that scriven began saying yes to every research project and study abroad opportunity that was presented to her and her classmates one of the opportunities she ended up saying yes to was becoming a mentor for the summer research experience for undergraduates (reu) the ocean reu is a national science foundation-funded research program built to give college students from around the country a glimpse into the ocean sciences providing the students opportunities to work with faculty and mentors in laboratories and at sea learning the analytical skills needed for multidisciplinary oceanographic research while serving as a reu program mentor scriven saw what it meant to have a support system directly benefiting the reu students it was during that summer that she had the idea to build a mentorship program right here for texas a&m oceanography students during that time i got to really know the rest of the department instead of one or two professors that id personally had scriven said as i was sitting in one of the friday reu talks i was listening to the students ask a million questions and stand up and get excited about the topic i decided that we needed to do this but for our undergrads scriven gathered enthusiastic support from the oceanography faculty her idea for forming a student organization supporting ocean students quickly came together and tamu ocean was born tamu ocean is the student organization that runs alongside the oceanography major and minor and was created to give oceanography undergraduate students access to mentors and networking opportunities bringing like-minded classmates together to help them build their educational experiencevictoria scriven and a fellow oceanography student doing field work on a cruise (photo by chris mouchyn texas a&m geosciences)moving on to sea camp with graduation looming around the corner scriven knows tamu ocean is in good hands i am excited to see my fellow classmates and the incoming tamu ocean officers continue to build our community and to see our first class of freshmen become the new leaders of our program scrivens time mentoring younger students is far from over thats because scriven will continue her call to mentorship after graduating in june scriven will head to the florida keys where she will be serving as a marine sciences instructor at sea camp sea camp is a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating awareness of the marine world and educating children and adolescents in marine science the job however wasnt something she discovered on her own it was a class project that opened her eyes to the possibilities of becoming a marine sciences instructor after completing a project in one of her classes to prepare for a mock interview for a real job listing scriven decided to submit her application in real life after doing all that for the project i was thinking ‘i kind of like this and i had already done all the work so i decided to send it in she said a month later i got the job as a marine sciences instructor scriven will be educating and mentoring high school students as they discover their own passion for the ocean sciences along with leading her students in courses like exploration of the seas and marine ecology she will also be using her expertise to guide her students as they discover the possibilities of a future in ocean and marine sciences without the support of the texas a&m oceanography faculty staff and students she wouldnt have found this incredible opportunity or had the same life-changing experience during college scriven said the oceanography undergraduate program continues to grow thanks to trailblazers like scriven and her classmates as scriven dons her cap and gown to graduate with the class of 2019 her advice to the current oceanography majors incoming freshmen and major-changers is simple: be open to new experiences and get involved in what you love by stephanie taylor '10