We were so thrilled to host Gale McCrary as an intern through the Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) Opening the Box STEAM program. Gale brought his enthusiasm for science and for the past 7 weeks became an integral part of our research team taking on our berry project and raising it to new heights. Gale has been diving deep into the sciences for several years, you can watch his group presentation from spring 2024 through the Seatech Internship with Scripps University on Boccacio Rockfish vocalizations here. Gale’s curiosity and friendly nature was a treat to have in the office, and we can’t wait to see what questions he pursues in future.

                Over the past two years, the Science Center has been gathering data around salmonberry phenology (rate of growth) throughout the growing season to better understand how climate change impacts this plant’s life stages. Gale took on the challenge of maintaining monitoring equipment and collecting data across several designated sites near Sitka during the peak of the berry season. This year Gale brought the project a new data set that included sugar content. Using a refractometer, he was able to measure the amount of sugar in salmonberry juice and compare sugar amounts across the different sites. Gale presented his findings at the SHI conference in Juneau along with other Opening the Box interns working across many fields. One of his proudest achievements from this project was in creating a Standard Operating Procedure detailing how to collect data of berries that will be shared among many communities in the hopes of increasing our understanding of berry growth patterns.

Gale’s internship was made possible by the generous support from the SHI Opening the Box Program.