Hello, my name is Kimlynn Nguyen, I graduated from the University of Florida in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation in December 2014. I wanted to thank you for giving me the opportunity to work with St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge.  

I grew up in the suburbs in Missouri surrounded by visiting deer and trying to catch rabbits in my backyard. Wildlife captured my interest from a young age. I moved to Jacksonville then Orlando to a more densely populated area, which restricted my time outside around nature. My mother passed away when I was still in middle school, and being the youngest child, my father had it rough and was very protective of me, so I appreciate how he now supports the direction I am heading after years of persuading. I had been the youngest out of four children until just this January—I am now a big sister to a baby half‑brother!  

My family is a bit traditional and expected me to pursue a career as a doctor, dentist, pharmacist, etc.—but none of those ever interested me. I had always wanted to work with animals. Not knowing which direction to go in and knowing my love of nature, I took a few wildlife classes and got interested. I’ve volunteered at a Primate Sanctuary since my sophomore year, making life easier for small primates that were abused or used for science.  

I traveled to Vietnam with my family and stayed there for a month. It is gorgeous; the many hikes up mountains to visit the temples made the trip very enjoyable. I studied abroad last summer in Swaziland and South Africa for four weeks. I stayed at the Mbuluzi Game Reserve, gathering data at four different parks to aid in ongoing research about the effects elephants had on the savannah’s vegetation structure and animal diversity. One of the parks we researched in was Kruger National Park in South Africa, which has been unforgettable; seeing lions, giraffes, rhinos, jackals, bushbabies, kudus and other different ungulates, and hearing the hyenas at night is one adventure I will always remember. I hope to travel a little more out of and in the country before going to graduate school.  

Once again, I wanted to thank you for giving me the opportunity to work at St. Marks. The St. Marks team are all very friendly and are a pleasure to work with. I look forward to working and helping restore the habitat for the red-cockaded woodpeckers. I always enjoy working with small mammals, so getting the chance to study the salt marsh voles and salt marsh mink would be an interesting experience. I’m already learning many things here and I know I will learn so much more while working here.