Riverview provides an in-school internship for the students in marine science—Stars to Starfish. Students from all over the county and further from first grade to eighth grade come and visit RHS for a field trip to the planetarium and Aquadome. The kids first start off watching a show about planets in the planetarium, and then the interns split them into groups and walk them to the aqua dome.

Alexa Milcetic ‘19 works in the planetarium with the kids when they watch the show.

“I love interning with Mr. Mocherman in the planetarium because I get to see how excited the kids are before they see the show, and how many questions they ask. These field trips spark these kids’ interest in astronomy and can even make them into future scientists. I like to see how passionate and excited they get to learn about the universe around them,” Milcetic said.

There are 10 interesting stations in the aqua dome including the shark tank, coral tank and touch tank. As the kids rotate around, the interns are teaching the kids about what is so special about their particular tank. The kids learn about everything from aquaponics, plankton, clown fish, starfish, sea urchins to puffer fish, and Spotted Bamboo sharks. The kids love learning from the older kids because they look up to them and it is a different way of learning than from the usual teacher.

“I love working with the kids because holding a starfish or watching the sharks swim around gets them so excited and it’s awesome to be a part of it,” Morgan Windsor ‘19 said.

But behind the scenes, the interns have to clean up each of their tanks and feed the animals. This all happens during sixth period, and every intern has a responsibility in the aqua dome. The interns enjoy working the shows and putting smiles on the kids’ faces, and Milcetic says they “can’t wait to continue with more shows and touch tank.”