Author: Chelsea Zukowski

By DECKER LAVELY
USFSP Student Reporter

ST. PETERSBURG – Carey Schafer’s graduate research finds her waist deep in Florida waters, covered in mud and battling mosquitoes.

But you won’t find her only in the field or the laboratory. She’s also out in the community connecting people to science.

Schafer, 25, studies geological oceanography in the master’s program at the USF College of Marine Science in St. Petersburg. She was born in the suburbs of Kansas City, far from the ocean, but grew up loving science and wanting to be a marine biologist.

“As a kid, I was really curious, always asking questions, and when I had a good science teacher that was the best thing,” Schafer said.

Once she got to college, she gravitated more toward earth science and earned a bachelor’s degree in environmental science from Tulane University in New Orleans. There, she conducted research on how rivers are impacted by wildfires and had an internship with NASA, studying air quality.

She learned about the USF College of Marine Science during an American Geophysical Union conference she attended for her internship. She learned the college would allow her to explore her interests in both earth and marine science.

“The College of Marine Science was just a great program with… a great community when I came and visited,” she said.

Today, her research focuses on how mangroves store and cycle carbon. The scientific community knows how much carbon mangroves can store, Schafer said, but not necessarily how long.

“Is protecting mangroves really important for mitigating increased carbon dioxide emissions? Or are they storing carbon for a short amount of time and releasing it as carbon dioxide, or is it being washed away into the ocean?” Schafer said.

“I’m trying to get at how long the carbon is being stored there and is it stable? Especially along the Florida coastline we need to know if mangroves are going to continue to be stable into the future.”

Ten Thousand Islands in southwest Florida is the site for most of Schafer’s field work. She goes out into the water with a group from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute.

“I take sediment cores, and we carry them all out with us and bring them back to the lab and analyze all of them,” Schafer said.

Recently, she was awarded the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership Fellowship in Coastal Science for 2019-2020 to finance her tuition and research. Last year she was awarded the Paul Getting Endowed Memorial Fellowship in Marine Science.

Though Schafer enjoys her mangrove research, outreach is one of her biggest passions.

“With research it’s great; you’re piecing together a puzzle and trying to find the answer,” Schafer said. “But outreach is where I want to go with my career.”

She helped found the St. Petersburg chapter of Taste of Science, an organization that teaches community members about science by connecting them with professionals.

“We bring professors, researchers, anyone who is involved in science to areas in St. Petersburg – whether that’s a coffee shop, brewery or community center – and have them give talks and interact with people in the community,” Schafer said. “We are making science seem less intimidating and making scientists seem more like (regular) people, which they are.”

Her outreach extends to the Saturday Morning Market in downtown St. Petersburg.

Schafer established a partnership between the market and the College of Marine Science. Once a semester, the college has a booth to teach community members about scientific issues.

For the past two years, Schafer has also been a part of the Oceanography Camp for Girls, a three-week summer program established in 1991 that encourages girls to pursue science careers by exploring different scientific topics.

“Being a woman in STEM, I want to make sure we are funneling more girls into the science pipeline,” Schafer said. “I really love that Oceanography Camp for Girls is free, and because of that you open it up to girls from every socioeconomic status. Anyone can participate, which I think is great.”

Schafer helped lead labs and field trips for the camp. During one trip to Fort De Soto Park, she was able to develop curriculums and teach the girls about mangroves.

“The thing I love about outreach is that not everyone gets to experience science and those experiences can be so life changing.”

In the future, Schafer hopes to develop more programs like the camp for girls around the country and work in science policy.

“If we, as a scientific community, take the time to start educating people on why science matters and how they should seek out information and start critically thinking, then that will start to be reflected in the political realm,” she said.

By TAYLOR TEW
USFSP Student Reporter

ST. PETERSBURG – The world’s best pineapple can be found at the Saturday Morning Market in downtown St. Petersburg.

That’s according to Dean Moustafa, a finance student at USF St. Petersburg who runs Rudy’s Fresh Market, a produce vendor that occupies a nook on the east side of the weekly market.

Rudy’s serves fresh juice and produce as well as homemade hummus.

The market, which is open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. from October through May, bills itself as the largest outdoor market in the Southeast.

On a typical Saturday, an estimated 10,000 visitors fill the parking lot of Al Lang Stadium at the corner of First Street S and First Avenue to listen to live music and shop for crafts and food like Moustafa’s pineapple.

“This is not just any kind of pineapple; this is the world’s best pineapple!” he chants as each new group of people walks by.

On a table at Moustafa’s stand, there is a cardboard box with the words “College Funds” written in black sharpie and dollar bills poking out. A sign leaning against a table reads, “The World’s Best Pineapple, 2 for 7.”

Moustafa, 24, has worked the Saturday Morning market since he was 6. His parents, Mohamed Elsayed and Mono Khalifa, were among the first vendors when the market began in 2002.

Rudy’s used to be associated with a brick-and-mortar location on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street N in St. Petersburg, but it is now closed because of illness in the family.

Moustafa said that his favorite part about working the market is meeting new people and the sense of community it brings. His least favorite part is getting up at 2 a.m. to prepare for the market.

“It takes the whole crew; we hire a few people but it’s a family operation,” said Moustafa.

On a recent Saturday, Moustafa had a steady line of customers and spoke to each one as he sliced their fruit for them.

A few people hovered nearby, recording the scene with their phones as he skinned and cored each pineapple. It was obvious he’d done the 20-second routine countless times.

“How many times have you cut yourself?” asked customer Barbara Bailey.

“A few times. If you don’t make a mistake, you can never learn,” said Moustafa.

Moustafa will soon earn his finance degree from the university. Then Rudy’s will go up for sale, he said, or they’ll find a way to keep it in the family.

What makes it the world’s best pineapple?

Simple, he said. It’s because it’s served by him.

By KAMRYN ELLIOTT
USFSP Student Reporter

ST. PETERSBURG – In a biological excursion spanning five and half weeks, a group of 16 students spent last summer exploring various ecosystems.

Shark tagging, alligator identification and bird surveying, to name a few.

These students came from five Florida universities and traveled through the state for a marine field studies course that was sponsored by the Florida Institute of Oceanography.

The Institute, which is based at USF St. Petersburg, is an agency of the state university system.

The course is a collaborative effort among the University of North Florida, University of West Florida, Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida Atlantic University, and USF St. Petersburg.

Each university had a specific ecosystem for the week. UNF covered diverse beach systems and the Atlantic. UWF covered wetlands; FGCU, estuaries and seagrasses; and FAU, coral, algae and fish. At USFSP the focus was open ocean, with study on Weatherbird II, a research vessel.

“It’s a rigorous course with around 40 hours per week and it is very competitive,” said Dr. Heather Judkins, an invertebrate zoologist and associate professor in the Department of Biology at USF St. Petersburg.

Students need to fill out an application with an essay and their transcripts to be considered. Preference is given to juniors and seniors, but it is open to underclassmen as well.

Each university is delegated a certain number of student slots. If empty slots are left over, they are divided among the schools and students are selected from a waitlist.

“I was actually part of the second draft of students competing for an empty spot,” said Abby Blackburn, a student at USFSP studying biology with a concentration in marine biology and a minor in chemistry and geographic information systems.

The course is highly competitive for a reason. Each week the students were tasked with collecting samples using marine science techniques and surveying and identifying land and sea life. There were also tests.

“Our main professor for the week would come up with a way to teach us, so sometimes that would be an actual test or other times it would be identifying everything in a room,” said Blackburn.

Students were split into four groups for a final project that covered certain topics: salinity/dissolved oxygen, total suspended solids, nitrates/chlorophyll a, and micro plastics. The groups took the samples together but produced their final projects separately.

On the final day, the groups presented their projects to the professors from each university and donors from the Florida Institute of Oceanography.

There were many professors since students were at a different location each week. Teacher assistants and a graduate assistant are also present.

“We have a graduate assistant that attends the course and this person can come from any one of the universities – whoever is best fit for the role will get it,” said Judkins.

The graduate assistant this summer was Amanda Schaaf, who took the course when she was a student and was a teacher’s assistant during the course in 2018.

“She bought us food when there weren’t cafeterias nearby, was in charge of room assignments, helped us find locations, drove some of us to where we needed to go for the day if travel was required, and helped with field research. We were lucky to have her,” said Blackburn.

The students had five intensive weeks and gained a lot of knowledge from the experience.

They credit the course as well as the institutions.

“It strengthened my resolve to do marine work and made me realize how much I wanted to do field work,” said Dennis Deeken, a senior who will graduate this month with a biology major and a concentration in marine biology.

“It’s great for networking and honing in on what you want to do with your degree,” said Blackburn.

Judkins said students have reached out and credited the course because it helped them after graduation.

Deeken stressed the course is a wonderful opportunity for ambitious students.

“One of the professors mentioned that there’s really nothing like this in the nation where you have five universities working with a scientific institution to create a college course,” he said.

For more information on the course visit https://marinefieldstudies2019.blogspot.com.

By ASHLEY CAMPBELL
USFSP Student Reporter

ST. PETERSBURG – In the dog-eat-dog world of local television news, there is another important layer of competition: Which station can get a story published online the fastest?

“We’re all fighting for that piece of pie,” said Chelsea Tatham, 28, a digital producer at 10News WTSP.

Tatham is one of seven digital producers in a newsroom where 150 staffers broadcast five and a half hours of newscasts per day, Monday through Friday, while also seeking a high profile on the web and social media.

In the 10News newsroom on Gandy Boulevard in northeast St. Petersburg, TVs mounted on the walls and every personal computer display current trending topics for stories.

They refresh every few minutes, so the staff can follow trends and track how often readers are clicking on the station’s stories.

Staff members have double monitors to help them multitask, whether it’s watching a trend, writing a story or editing a piece while adding information that is just arriving.

The entire newsroom stays connected with a work group chat. Frequent messaging means stories can be edited quickly, and communication about breaking news can be updated quickly and collectively.

A small black box on Tatham’s desk emits noise that sounds like a police scanner. Called the “squawk box,” it transmits voices and information that CBS News headquarters in New York sends to its more than 200 affiliate stations.

The information coming through the box is like a “needle in a haystack,” said Tatham. The station’s staff never knows what could lead to a potential story.

Tatham got her start in print journalism. At USF St. Petersburg, she was the creative director and then managing editor of The Crow’s Nest, the campus weekly. After graduating she worked at the Tampa Bay Times for almost four years.

When she was laid off, 10News hired her as a digital producer.

The digital producers are responsible for the station’s online content, and what is most important to them is online engagement, said Tatham. They are able to see the average time people spend on the 10News website and what stories get the most clicks.

Digital producers can use a program that analyzes headline options to indicate which proposed headline would get the most engagement.

They also schedule social media posts to share news to the public even faster. Social media is what draws the most engagement from readers, said Tatham.

A new Facebook post goes out every 25 minutes.

IGTV scripts are written, filmed, and produced daily for Instagram.

And every news article automatically gets published on Twitter.

When breaking news hits, the entire staff works collectively to get the story published accurately and quickly, Tatham said. Breaking news may be published within minutes.

“You get whiplash sometimes,” she said.

In her newsroom, there aren’t any assigned editors. Everyone there edits everyone else’s stories, she said. In order to get the stories published faster, whoever is available to edit jumps in.

Although broadcast and digital journalism differ from the print journalism she started in, some elements are the same, Tatham said.

Every story at 10News is supposed to adhere to Associated Press style, reflect independent reporting and be supported by at least two credible sources, she said.

Story and photos by
JULIA SEVERANCE
USFSP Student Reporter

Just about every day for three years, Douglas Danger Rothwell – Doug for short – has cheerfully greeted the people who come to Whim So Doodle to shop and take art classes.

It is a tough job, and Doug acknowledges on the store’s website that he sometimes lies on his back – just to “make sure that everything is clear from the floor to the ceiling.”

Doug is a 5-year-old English white lab who belongs to the daughter of Whim So Doodle owner Jill Orobello.

Sadly, he does not know that he will be out of a job on Dec. 31.

That’s the day Whim So Doodle, an iconic arts and crafts store at 237 Second Ave. S, will close after 27 years.

The building that houses the store has been sold, Orobello said. She is searching for warehouse-type space where she can continue holding arts classes, but the store itself will not continue.

“Whim So Doodle really has become a family,” said Orobello, 58.

It began in 1992, three years after the Orobello family moved from Cincinnati to St. Petersburg when Peter Orobello, a surgeon who specialized in ear, nose and throat problems in children, was recruited to work at All Children’s Hospital.

Jill Orobello is a registered nurse, but she became a stay-at-home mom to care for her first son, who suffered from an auto immune disorder, and the couple’s other five children.

She said she started her business to create a safe and encouraging space for her family. It helped sustain them when her son died in 2000 at age 14 and her husband – a marathoner – died after a heart attack on an early morning run in 2015.

The store, first called Whim Sew Doodle, focused on counted cross-stitch, needlepoint, sewing and smocking.

It grew into a broader art store and twice changed locations as Orobello brought in rubber stamps, paint, memory keeping products and paper supplies while building a customer base and staff.

The staff includes Orobello’s daughter, Tayler Rothwell, who started working in the store when she was 14. She is the store’s marketing director, teaches a monthly brush calligraphy class and brings Doug, her dog, to work each day.

Over time, Orobello said, the close-knit environment in the store led to the mission statement on the back of the classroom wall: “Come as strangers but leave as family.”

Karen Dos Passos, a longtime costumer of Whim So Doodle, took her first class there in 2013. She has taken most of the classes offered by Whim So Doodle, but the art journaling class has been the most meaningful.

“Watching someone else grow in their art is just as important to me as seeing myself grow,” said Dos Passos.

As Whim So Doodle prepares to close, Orobello is marking down prices on her inventory and saying goodbye to longtime customers.

Meanwhile, the affable Doug maintains his post near the door, awaiting scratches and treats.