Girl Scout of Eastern Massachusetts’ Camp Director Mary-Jane Strom is our Feature Friday today. Mary has volunteered for the New England Aquarium (NEAq) every Sunday for the past four years, logging over 1,200 volunteer hours. Mary is a Penguin Colony volunteer. Her role is to prepare the penguins’ food and record their daily intake and to clean the penguin exhibit and support area by washing the penguin’s islands, scrubbing away algae/guano and vacuuming the pool where they swim.

Mary enjoys taking care of the four different species of penguins and educating the public on the importance of conservation. This is a crucial topic, because of the 18 penguins species in the wild, 11 are endangered or threatened. African penguins, one of the species living at the NEAq, are predicted to become extinct in the year 2025. When Mary gives a lecture to the public she tells them about the African penguins and the live blue initiative, the daily choice to help protect the environment.

African penguin

“Having been a Girl Scout since 1^st grade, I learned to find solutions and become an active member of my community. I found the volunteer page on the NEAq website in 2009 and applied. I’ve been there ever since.”