A small, female terrapin attempted to cross the Longport Causeway to find a nesting site. After an unsuccessful effort, she was delivered in a cardboard box to Stockton’s Animal Care Facility where John Rokita, the college’s resident wildlife expert, took her out to examine her injuries.
The soon-to-be-mom had deep cracks in her left, front carapace—too severe to survive. She managed to hold on long enough to lay one egg, and with a bit of help, her other eight eggs were saved.
Cape Conservation interns Tracy Smith, Kristina Koreivo and Joulian Wilmer waded through the Delaware Bay—the muddy bottom squishing between their toes—holding toddler-aged horseshoe crabs that just fit into the palms of their hands. The Stockton Biology majors helped to release fifty captive-raised horseshoe crabs back into their natural habitat at Kimbles Beach in Cape May County on June 11.
Biology graduate Maria Berezin, ’13, tackled every opportunity to get involved in local fisheries research during her undergraduate years at Stockton. The depth of her involvement paid off as she reeled in an acceptance to her top choice school. She is spending the summer at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University as a research assistant and then starting her Ph.D. program in Environmental Science there in the fall.
“The day that I received my acceptance letter was the happiest day of my life to date. I now work for Dr. [Richard] Horwitz at the Academy of Natural Sciences,” the Vineland native said.
She credits her Stockton roots with helping her build a strong educational foundation for growth. “I could not have achieved any of this without the guidance and experiences that I was awarded at Stockton. My advisors, Tara Luke and Mark Sullivan, were always available to me whenever I had any questions and helped me grow and gain confidence in myself and my abilities,” she said.
Maria Berezin with Dr. Tara Luke, associate professor of Biology
