A Passion for the Ocean 

As a toddler, Charlie Anslow ’22 loved exploring the Birch Aquarium. He’d choose a nature documentary over Dora the Explorer any day. And he could sit in a tide pool for hours at the beach. “I was just obsessed with all those creatures,” he says.

 

As a senior, those early days continue to fuel Charlie’s fascination with ocean life, and they play a big role in his passion for sharing what he’s learned with others at school and in the community. “I want people to see what I saw when I was little,” says Charlie.

 

Charlie went from guest to regular Birch Aquarium volunteer starting in ninth grade. He started behind the scenes, wiping condensation off windows and blending krill shakes for the anemones. Eventually, he began working with the octopus, keeping the intelligent creature busy with enrichment activities and feeding the sharks. Today, he’s interacting with the public in the aquarium’s tide pool area, answering questions about the marine animals on view.

 

At LJCDS, Charlie launched the Marine Biology Club in his junior year, bringing in virtual speakers, including from the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy on Cape Cod, where he’s volunteered twice on a research vessel.

 

This year, with so much independent knowledge about the ocean, Charlie served as science educator Chris Uyeda’s first teaching assistant in the marine biology course, helping lead a field trip to the aquarium and working on an independent research project on the deep sea.

 

He even weaves his love for the ocean into another interest—music. Charlie mixes music for metal bands and has begun to wade into vocals and guitar too. He loves experimenting with sounds, especially from the deep sea. “There’s some scary, sort of, otherworldly qualities to any noise from the deep sea because of the amount of pressure,” he explains. “And it makes the music sound really atmospheric.” 

 

Charlie’s next stop is Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. Like at LJCDS, he plans to carve his path as he dives deeper into his study of marine biology, music and another passion, parkour, a discipline he’s been involved in for more than a decade. 

 

“I have a huge interest in marine biology, parkour and music,” he says. “They’re each so different, but they’re related in some ways too. I know that people can completely change what they are passionate about in college, but I highly doubt anything will change for me because these have intrigued me for a very long time.”