The Brinton Environmental Center sits off the coast of Florida on Summerland Key, surrounded by the aquamarine waters of the Atlantic Ocean. This tranquil, tropical setting is where Simon Moreno chose to intern for the past two summers.
Moreno is a junior in the environmental and outdoor education (EOE) program at UMD. He visited the Florida Keys before his internship and fell in love with the area. He credits that trip for putting him on the path he is on today. “I was unsure what to do after high school,” he says, “but eventually, I realized that I wanted to be in the outdoors.”
Brinton caught his attention, and he seized the opportunity to do an internship there. “It’s such a once-in-a-lifetime thing, and I got to do it and get paid for it,” he says.
Brinton is one of four locations that operate under Sea Base, a co-ed scouting program founded in the Florida Keys. It hosts many outdoor programs aimed at children aged 13–18 and is home to Sea Base’s coral nursery. Moreno’s experience in these various programs confirmed that he made the right decision—working in the outdoors is where he belongs.
In his first year of the internship, he mostly worked in their coral nursery, which aims to help restore coral reefs locally. The nursery grows coral in a lab, and then plants it in the ocean; they also relocate healthy coral that may otherwise be destroyed. In recent years, almost 90% of live coral cover in the Florida Keys has disappeared, and reefs around the world are currently threatened.
Another part of Moreno’s job involved leading crews in the Center’s STEM program. Groups of scouts from around the country stay for a week and participate in various aquatic activities, such as snorkeling, tagging fish and sharks, and building robots to race at the end of the camp.
Moreno shared that he collects Crocs charms, or “jibbitz,” to represent each crew he’s had. One particular charm—a light-up unicorn—was given to him by an all-girls crew during his first summer at Brinton. “While spending the night on Munson [an island], they all opened up about their scouting experiences, and that this was their best time camping,” he says. “This crew touched my heart the most and solidified that I was doing the right thing by being there and going into the EOE field.”
This year, Moreno was also able to focus on his passion for photography as part of his internship. He used his visual storytelling skills to help develop content for the Center’s public relations. This helped him build his portfolio, along with his current videography roles with UMD’s Bulldog Productions and with ESPN working live sporting events.
Storytelling for change
Moving forward, Moreno says he could envision a few different paths. Inspired by Nova West and J.J. Kelley (a couple of successful EOE alumni), he’d like to land an internship with National Geographic or an organization of similar standing. Continuing to work with ESPN or heading back south to Brinton are options he has also considered.
Regardless of where his career takes him, he hopes to use his knowledge of photography and videography to create stories that convey the extent of environmental problems and highlight those who are working to combat them. His goal is to specialize in underwater camera work. “I just want to be out in nature getting stories and capturing the beauty of the world,” he says. “I’m trying to raise awareness, particularly about climate change.”
He wants to do a series on coral reefs one day. It would focus on the efforts being made to restore them and keep them healthy—protected from climate change and human error—and to tell the stories of those behind those efforts.
He is currently working on a grant proposal that would allow him to head to Saudi Arabia and work on a story about the country’s efforts to restore coral reefs. “For me, going to Saudi Arabia is not only a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to explore a foreign country and see how they are working through the coral bleaching crisis but also to see the beauty of the coral reefs around the world,” he says.
This story was written by UMD student Jax Wilder, who is majoring in psychology. Jax assists Lissa Maki with communications for the College of Education and Human Service Professions.