What if your classroom could hold 10 million gallons of water?
Buckle up, cuz the next 10 minutes, we're going all in.
Since opening in 2005, the Georgia Aquarium has grown into one of the world's largest collections of sea life.
From microscopic corals to massive whale sharks, hundreds of marine and freshwater species call this aquarium home.
So, what does it take to keep a place like this running or swimming successfully?
Well, allow us to introduce you to an incredibly diverse team of professionals that include scientists, biologists, engineers, trainers, and an ocean of other cool careers.
And some that you, and honestly, myself included, didn't even know existed.
Exhibit A.
Meet Kimberly Craft.
Official title, Aquarist.
But I've decided she is the queen of coral conservation.
>> How did you come to be an aquarist?
I have a degree in biology and I didn't really know where I wanted to go.
So I in the career of biology you can go in many different directions.
You can go into research, you can go into aquarium, you can also go into training.
Um and I did just about every single one of those to get to where I am today.
So luckily I was able to internship here.
Um, and then during my internship, I was offered a job and I've been here for about 8 years.
>> Do you have a favorite coral?
>> Oh my gosh, yes, I do.
>> Which one?
>> Um, so it is over here.
If you'd like to come over to this guy right here, it is called a micro muso.
They can get really fluffy.
And you can actually see their tentacles out right now ready for a feed.
>> If I remember correctly, you said I could feed the coral.
>> You can.
>> Can I feed the coral?
>> Yes, you can.
Let's do this.
>> Okay.
>> All right.
Here we go.
What would your advice be to anyone out there who thinks that looks really cool.
I want to work at an aquarium someday.
>> My advice would probably be to keep going.
Um it was always a thing that I got from a lot of people is saying that it was really hard to get into and it is but it's really rewarding.
So just do as many volunteer opportunities you can do um internships and eventually you'll get there.
So, this is our big reef wall.
It is about 164,000 gallons, and it gets dove six days out of the week.
>> Oh my.
>> Um, staff divers get in about three times a week, and I'm fortunate enough to be one of those divers.
Um, so I do dive regularly in here.
Um, and what my tasks are mainly is taking care of the corals that you see um, down in along this reach wall.
I'm always learning.
Um, I'm always problem solving with these guys.
Um, and those are great skills to have as an aquarist.
On September 1st, a coalition of accredited aquariums joined together to rescue 30 beluga whales from an amusement park in Canada.
Some of them were already bonded from their time at the park.
So, there was a big effort to keep bonded pairs together.
That includes Baylor and Zephyr, who would soon find their new home with the Georgia Aquariums Beluga Group.
But getting two whales from Canada to Atlanta was no small task.
Weighing more than 1,000 lbs each, the whales were carefully lifted from their pool in a custom stretcher and placed into specially designed transport tanks filled with water.
The transport unit was then carefully loaded onto a chartered cargo plane where veterinarians and animal care experts traveled alongside them, monitoring the whales throughout the journey.
After landing in Atlanta, the stretchers were used to once again place the whales into a giant freight elevator where they were carefully lowered into the care of the experts we are meeting today.
Alise Stit and Melissa Painter are two of the 14 people who are constantly on call to keep some of the aquarium's largest animals healthy, happy, and fed.
>> How do you keep all these hundreds of species happy?
>> It takes 14 people um 7 days a week throughout the entire day from the time we get here at 6:30 to the time we leave.
Um we're just constantly doing training sessions, doing different feeds, doing welfare assessments, doing observations.
So, it's a very large habitat and once an animal joins the Ocean Voyager population, um, they have 6 million gallons of water and there's 30 ft deep over here and 20 ft deep over here.
So, if we want to be able to consistently access that animal for annual exams and welfare checkups, we have to train them to come to certain areas to us for us to be able to get a better look at them.
Um, so that not only involves training the animals, but training the staff on how to train the animals.
So it can be a really long investment, but we believe in it.
>> What is all of your advice to all of those out there who say, you know what, I want to go work for her someday.
I want to do that.
>> Yeah.
Um, well, I heard a quote when I was younger and it changed the trajectory of my whole life and it is, you can't fail if you don't stop trying.
So, even if you're trying and it doesn't work out, it's not a failure until you've stopped attempting.
So, you just keep going.
Um, there are so many roadblocks that you're going to hit along the way with any career you're going to go into.
Um, and just keep going if you're passionate about it.
>> So, just go ahead and you can just kneel right here.
>> Get on my knees.
>> Yep.
>> Now that I've heard a little bit about how these aquarists landed these careers, it's time for me to get my hands dirty and my feet wet.
H figures.
as I wore my new sneakers today.
>> I'm Coy.
This is Elise.
And this is feeding a whale shark.
>> Wow, that's amazing.
>> This is And eats nearly 40 lbs of food every day.
But see how he swims alongside other large fish.
You won't see a whale shark chasing down big prey.
These giants are filter feeders, gulping huge amounts of water and filtering out tiny meals, including krill, shrimp, jellies, fish eggs, and small fish.
And despite a mouth that can stretch 4 ft wide, their throats are only about the size of a quarter.
For senior aquarist Elise, it took starting a career that she didn't enjoy to lead her to her true passion.
>> My undergrad is actually in business, so nothing to do with taking care of fish or working in aquariums or anything like that.
Um, but after like being in the corporate world for a few years, I kind of decided that this is not what I wanted to do.
And I always loved fish.
I always loved the ocean.
And so that brought me to just trying to get any entry- level job in an aquarium.
You might have to be flexible to move.
And um, just being open to that possibility because sometimes the opportunities like I've gone all the way across the country.
I've been in Arizona, Oregon, Florida, and now Georgia.
So, um, you really kind of have to bounce all around and be willing to do that if you, you know, really want to be in this job.
So, my biggest piece of advice would be find a local aquarium or any sort of like wildlife center, nature center, whatever that you can volunteer at, especially if you don't have a lot of a lot of experience right off the bat because that is where you get a lot of that like baseline experience and just to see if you actually want to do it.
Um, you know, it obviously this looks super cool in this moment right now feeding a whale shark, but this is just a small percentage of our day.
So, a lot of other things that go into it are maybe not the not so glamorous parts, right?
Like the cleaning up and the diet prep and all that kind of stuff.
It's a very dirty job.
>> You almost got me.
We almost had the other kind of koiish.
>> Watch out, Moana.
Colin keeps this aquarium's underwater environments functioning properly so the animals can thrive.
What is a day in the life of Colin like?
>> Well, depends on the day.
We got lots of moving parts around here and plenty of things to be monitoring, you know, controlling at any given time.
But on a typical day, if everything is going right, means I come in, I check my computer, I check for alarms, anything's out of range, um, I read what happened in our overnight shift, um, so we communicate well between our shifts and, uh, we go and look at each piece of equipment around the entire building.
um look at each, you know, protein skimmer or uh sand filter.
Make sure pressures are good, temperatures are good, all the water parameters for that system are in intact.
Every single part needs to be maintained and continue to work properly for our animals to be happy and healthy in their exhibit.
Attention to detail is very important here.
It's if we miss parameters um things can go wrong and cost money lives.
So uh you know that's key.
>> It takes scientists, animal care experts, educators, engineers, and so many others working together.
Every job has a vital role because caring for thousands of animals takes a team.
That's all we have time for for today.
We'll see you later.
I'm Ky Wire and we are CNN 10.
Buckle up, cuz the next 10 minutes, we're going all in.
Since opening in 2005, the Georgia Aquarium has grown into one of the world's largest collections of sea life.
From microscopic corals to massive whale sharks, hundreds of marine and freshwater species call this aquarium home.
So, what does it take to keep a place like this running or swimming successfully?
Well, allow us to introduce you to an incredibly diverse team of professionals that include scientists, biologists, engineers, trainers, and an ocean of other cool careers.
And some that you, and honestly, myself included, didn't even know existed.
Exhibit A.
Meet Kimberly Craft.
Official title, Aquarist.
But I've decided she is the queen of coral conservation.
>> How did you come to be an aquarist?
I have a degree in biology and I didn't really know where I wanted to go.
So I in the career of biology you can go in many different directions.
You can go into research, you can go into aquarium, you can also go into training.
Um and I did just about every single one of those to get to where I am today.
So luckily I was able to internship here.
Um, and then during my internship, I was offered a job and I've been here for about 8 years.
>> Do you have a favorite coral?
>> Oh my gosh, yes, I do.
>> Which one?
>> Um, so it is over here.
If you'd like to come over to this guy right here, it is called a micro muso.
They can get really fluffy.
And you can actually see their tentacles out right now ready for a feed.
>> If I remember correctly, you said I could feed the coral.
>> You can.
>> Can I feed the coral?
>> Yes, you can.
Let's do this.
>> Okay.
>> All right.
Here we go.
What would your advice be to anyone out there who thinks that looks really cool.
I want to work at an aquarium someday.
>> My advice would probably be to keep going.
Um it was always a thing that I got from a lot of people is saying that it was really hard to get into and it is but it's really rewarding.
So just do as many volunteer opportunities you can do um internships and eventually you'll get there.
So, this is our big reef wall.
It is about 164,000 gallons, and it gets dove six days out of the week.
>> Oh my.
>> Um, staff divers get in about three times a week, and I'm fortunate enough to be one of those divers.
Um, so I do dive regularly in here.
Um, and what my tasks are mainly is taking care of the corals that you see um, down in along this reach wall.
I'm always learning.
Um, I'm always problem solving with these guys.
Um, and those are great skills to have as an aquarist.
On September 1st, a coalition of accredited aquariums joined together to rescue 30 beluga whales from an amusement park in Canada.
Some of them were already bonded from their time at the park.
So, there was a big effort to keep bonded pairs together.
That includes Baylor and Zephyr, who would soon find their new home with the Georgia Aquariums Beluga Group.
But getting two whales from Canada to Atlanta was no small task.
Weighing more than 1,000 lbs each, the whales were carefully lifted from their pool in a custom stretcher and placed into specially designed transport tanks filled with water.
The transport unit was then carefully loaded onto a chartered cargo plane where veterinarians and animal care experts traveled alongside them, monitoring the whales throughout the journey.
After landing in Atlanta, the stretchers were used to once again place the whales into a giant freight elevator where they were carefully lowered into the care of the experts we are meeting today.
Alise Stit and Melissa Painter are two of the 14 people who are constantly on call to keep some of the aquarium's largest animals healthy, happy, and fed.
>> How do you keep all these hundreds of species happy?
>> It takes 14 people um 7 days a week throughout the entire day from the time we get here at 6:30 to the time we leave.
Um we're just constantly doing training sessions, doing different feeds, doing welfare assessments, doing observations.
So, it's a very large habitat and once an animal joins the Ocean Voyager population, um, they have 6 million gallons of water and there's 30 ft deep over here and 20 ft deep over here.
So, if we want to be able to consistently access that animal for annual exams and welfare checkups, we have to train them to come to certain areas to us for us to be able to get a better look at them.
Um, so that not only involves training the animals, but training the staff on how to train the animals.
So it can be a really long investment, but we believe in it.
>> What is all of your advice to all of those out there who say, you know what, I want to go work for her someday.
I want to do that.
>> Yeah.
Um, well, I heard a quote when I was younger and it changed the trajectory of my whole life and it is, you can't fail if you don't stop trying.
So, even if you're trying and it doesn't work out, it's not a failure until you've stopped attempting.
So, you just keep going.
Um, there are so many roadblocks that you're going to hit along the way with any career you're going to go into.
Um, and just keep going if you're passionate about it.
>> So, just go ahead and you can just kneel right here.
>> Get on my knees.
>> Yep.
>> Now that I've heard a little bit about how these aquarists landed these careers, it's time for me to get my hands dirty and my feet wet.
H figures.
as I wore my new sneakers today.
>> I'm Coy.
This is Elise.
And this is feeding a whale shark.
>> Wow, that's amazing.
>> This is And eats nearly 40 lbs of food every day.
But see how he swims alongside other large fish.
You won't see a whale shark chasing down big prey.
These giants are filter feeders, gulping huge amounts of water and filtering out tiny meals, including krill, shrimp, jellies, fish eggs, and small fish.
And despite a mouth that can stretch 4 ft wide, their throats are only about the size of a quarter.
For senior aquarist Elise, it took starting a career that she didn't enjoy to lead her to her true passion.
>> My undergrad is actually in business, so nothing to do with taking care of fish or working in aquariums or anything like that.
Um, but after like being in the corporate world for a few years, I kind of decided that this is not what I wanted to do.
And I always loved fish.
I always loved the ocean.
And so that brought me to just trying to get any entry- level job in an aquarium.
You might have to be flexible to move.
And um, just being open to that possibility because sometimes the opportunities like I've gone all the way across the country.
I've been in Arizona, Oregon, Florida, and now Georgia.
So, um, you really kind of have to bounce all around and be willing to do that if you, you know, really want to be in this job.
So, my biggest piece of advice would be find a local aquarium or any sort of like wildlife center, nature center, whatever that you can volunteer at, especially if you don't have a lot of a lot of experience right off the bat because that is where you get a lot of that like baseline experience and just to see if you actually want to do it.
Um, you know, it obviously this looks super cool in this moment right now feeding a whale shark, but this is just a small percentage of our day.
So, a lot of other things that go into it are maybe not the not so glamorous parts, right?
Like the cleaning up and the diet prep and all that kind of stuff.
It's a very dirty job.
>> You almost got me.
We almost had the other kind of koiish.
>> Watch out, Moana.
Colin keeps this aquarium's underwater environments functioning properly so the animals can thrive.
What is a day in the life of Colin like?
>> Well, depends on the day.
We got lots of moving parts around here and plenty of things to be monitoring, you know, controlling at any given time.
But on a typical day, if everything is going right, means I come in, I check my computer, I check for alarms, anything's out of range, um, I read what happened in our overnight shift, um, so we communicate well between our shifts and, uh, we go and look at each piece of equipment around the entire building.
um look at each, you know, protein skimmer or uh sand filter.
Make sure pressures are good, temperatures are good, all the water parameters for that system are in intact.
Every single part needs to be maintained and continue to work properly for our animals to be happy and healthy in their exhibit.
Attention to detail is very important here.
It's if we miss parameters um things can go wrong and cost money lives.
So uh you know that's key.
>> It takes scientists, animal care experts, educators, engineers, and so many others working together.
Every job has a vital role because caring for thousands of animals takes a team.
That's all we have time for for today.
We'll see you later.
I'm Ky Wire and we are CNN 10.