Transcript
Joey Ferguson:
The experiences that you get here are really one of a kind, I would say, especially in regards to coastal ecology. Because we are in such a unique location, and being just, a unique place as well for a college.
Sometimes I go back to my family in Maryland and I talk about these things. I say, I’m doing samples of phytoplankton. And me talking about that feels like that’s not real. People don’t do that. Nobody gets to do those sorts of things. But I get to say, hey, what I’m able to do here on this campus, that is real.
And this is my life in the Pines.
My name is Joey Ferguson. My friends behind me are Erro and Danny. I am a senior in the Wildlife Bio and Marine Bio fields from Silver Spring, Maryland.
I actually almost went to a completely different school. I was pretty much just gonna be paying room and board there. And then Machias and UMaine was the last school on my tour list. So I came up here last and after leaving here, I was like, why would I go anywhere else? It just seems like this is the perfect fit for me. And it’s such a unique little place.
We’re at Blueberry Hill Farm with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. We are the only university based wild blueberry research facility in the nation.
We actually came here for a couple of my labs I took. We got to help them set up some transects and do some research. And I really thought it was super interesting. They hire summer undergraduate work. And I’ve really been enjoying it out here. It’s definitely a little bit different than Wildlife Biology and Marine Biology, but I think it’s a great experience getting a very well-rounded education. And that’s what Machias really prepares you for.
I’ve done work with mammals, birds. I’m a volunteer marine mammal stranding responder for this area. So if a seal gets stranded or a baby seal shows up, we’ll pick it up and take it into the lab somewhere, stuff like that.
We’re not just taking data for the sake of getting some experience. I’ve taken plant ecology courses where we’re doing a natural resource inventory. And that helps inform these land management groups to say, it has a real purpose behind it, which is what I love doing.
We have such a small class size. Everything is so hands-on. And that really appeals to me for the biological sciences. I find that it’s so much easier to learn when you’re in a 15, 20-person class. Your professor knows you by name. They can check up on you. But you can also ask questions and learn personally in a way that you really couldn’t if there was a 200-person lecture.
One of the great things about a place like this is that so many people here have the same passions as you. They have one dorm building that we use. So it’s not going to be the real classic, like massive… you’re just kind of a face in the crowd. Here, it’s really like, I would say I know mostly everybody’s names. So it’s much more personal. They’re here because they want to be in this place on the coast. And that really binds you together and makes for some very valuable friendships.
Joey go catch it!
That’s federally illegal.
And I’m… it’s kind of sentimental for me. I’m a senior. Roaming through all these woods, is really kind of takes you away. Makes you feel like you’re in a different place, like a fairy tale almost. In the wintertime, especially, walking through is so magical.
I just love, like, hearing the waves. You can find so much—there’s so much to do and to look for in the rocks in the intertidal area here. That’s one of the reasons why I came here is because I can do a quick, like, 10-minute drive and be on a couple of different beaches. Even just looking out, sometimes I find it hard to believe that I’m like, oh, I’m here in Maine, where it’s just so beautiful. It’s so quiet out here, too. You really get to be away from anything else.
When the ducks stand up and flap their little wings. I like how he did that just for you when you said that. Yeah. On command. 3, 2, 1. Now. A bunch of them d—he did it! Oh my god! On command, dude. I have them trained. I have them trained.