Student Experience
Hands-on experiences help students tell powerful climate-resilience stories
Internships at the Seymour Marine Discovery Center give students in-demand multimedia experience with video production and digital storytelling about how science can lead to meaningful solutions for coastal communities
Graduate student Cassidy Beach (left) interviewed Zeka Glucs, director of the Predatory Bird Research Group at UC Santa Cruz, in Seymour Marine Discovery Center's new podcast studio, which launched with seed funding from the Science Division's Degree-Defining Experiences Program.
Seymour Studios, a new podcast and multimedia space created by the Seymour Marine Discovery Center, is providing students with valuable skill-building experiences in communicating marine and coastal science through hands-on media production.
For years, the UC Santa Cruz Science Communication (SciComm) Program has sent students with backgrounds in science and ambitions to be storytellers to intern at the Seymour Center to write exhibit signage and other educational materials. Now, as the 26-year-old center modernizes everything from Ms. Blue to its outreach efforts, Seymour Studios is showcasing how science is leading to tangible, local environmental solutions with digital storytelling in the form of high-quality video and audio podcasts.
Launched with seed funding from the Science Division’s Degree-Defining Experiences Program, the studio is also giving science communication students valuable access to cutting-edge equipment and software that will better prepare them for journalism in the digital age.
“This experience has solidified my desire to work at the intersection of field research and multimedia storytelling, which I think is especially important because there seems to be such a massive appetite for science stories that feel personal, local, and immersive,” said SciComm student Cassidy Beach, Seymour’s multimedia intern for spring quarter.
This quarter, Beach has been producing episodes of Seymour’s new podcast, “Science, Solutions, Santa Cruz.” She has also launched a new segment for the show called “Field Diaries,” where she guest hosts and steps out of the studio to take listeners on site with researchers and innovators.
“It’s been the perfect marriage of my background in field research and my new skills in production,” Beach said. “I’ve hit the ground running helping to build the platform, engage the Santa Cruz community, and brainstorm new ways to evolve our narrative.”
Building career skills and impact
Jonathan Hicken, Seymour Center’s director and the podcast’s main host, provides multimedia interns with valuable mentorship and guidance for budding science storytellers. Students come to Seymour multiple times a week and reap the benefits of the new studio space, which is fully appointed with cameras, audio equipment, production software, and more for students to familiarize themselves with and, ideally, master.
“Students who are getting involved in multimedia journalism and podcast production are getting an opportunity to meet and interface with scientists from campus, but also community leaders,” Hicken said. “It makes this unique connection of how science leads to meaningful solutions, making a meaningful impact for coastal communities.”
Beach and other SciCom students who have interned at Seymour say the combination of access to modern media tools, and a safe environment where they are empowered to exercise creativity independently, makes them confident that they’ll have the experience needed to compete for coveted journalism jobs after completing the program.
“Seymour Center not only supported my creative ideas, but gave me the resources to pursue them,” said SciComm student Kari Goodbar, who interned at Seymour in the winter quarter. “I feel like I had a good balance of independence and support as a multimedia intern, and also made great community connections in my time there.”
Undergraduate Valarie Situ (College Nine ’26, Art & Design: Games & Playable Media) has also been working as a multimedia intern this quarter. She has created social-media content ranging from podcast teasers to short-form videos while collaborating with staff, volunteers, and educators across the Seymour Center.
“One of my favorite parts of the role has been bringing Gen Z humor and creative trends into our content strategy and seeing how engaging storytelling can make marine science more accessible online,” Situ said. “It’s been especially rewarding to see my work connect with audiences, including a swell shark skit I created that reached 1.1 million views!”
Ready to launch
Beach comes from a scientific background, like many of the students in the SciComm program. She studied earth and environmental science at the University of Michigan, and then spent a few years doing seasonal work throughout the country—from fisheries to wildlife education.
In the summer, Beach will return home to the Great Lakes and serve as a science-communication fellow on a Viking Cruise. There, she plans to launch a podcast series to document scientific work being done in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“The timing couldn’t be better,” Beach said. “My experience here gave me the confidence and the technical roadmap to take on a project of that scale.”
Hicken, whose background in tech energizes him to make bold decisions and work toward inspiring goals, is excited to continue working with students to bring important climate-resilience stories to the public. “The future for Seymour Studios is a media network,” he explained, “multiple productions with different hosts, different niche audiences, different voices, different lenses, different perspectives.”
Your support for the Degree-Defining Experiences Program will create transformational learning opportunities for undergraduates in the form of experiential field courses and other activities outside the classroom.
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