Kaitlen Watson

Primarily dedicated to animal care, I stepped out of the box to lead departmental budget planning for frozen food, curating educational content and acquisition plans, formulated spreadsheets to track stock and animal behavior, and rebuilt technical SOPs from scratch for large portions of the mechanical exhibits and safety response teams.

Biological: Rebuilt a training program for small stingray species in a touch pool environment from the ground up. Worked cooperatively with Curator and Tech staff on yearly Gopher Frog rearing, and VIE tagging for release.

Social: Departmental AWC representative from 2020 onwards. Facility representative for an industry-wide sustainability committee. Volunteer management and public interaction. T

Primarily dedicated to animal care, I took on responsibilities beyond the role including budget and stock management of seafood, serving as point of contact for all outside contractors, building spreadsheets from scratch to manage animal health (and predict reproductive episodes), and rebuilt all emergency SOPs and Risk Assessments for the entire facility.

Biological: Gained AZA accreditation at a previously unaccredited facility (2016) following USDA regulations. Exhibit dives consisting of feeds, maintenance, safety, and animal capture. Rewrote animal diets based on BW%, nutritional value, and seasonal availability. Worked directly with AZGFD to develop breeding and reintroduction programs for local fish species. Wrote and established Freshwater a

- Worked fully autonomously with few instructions from supervisory roles
- Contributed to teaching other interns by supplementing existing lessons
- Worked collaboratively with the bird team in order to safeguard their animals while maintaining the fish in the exhibit

- Data entering and monitoring using the ZIMS system
- Worked almost fully autonomously with little guidance from supervisory roles
- Exhibit maintenance

- Exchanging merchandise for cash, checks, or credit card payments
- Receiving and unpacking new shipments and organizing into stock
- Checking inventory and using the PATHFINDER code to price stock
- Helping customers find appropriate footwear for desired activities
- Helping customers looking for running or walking shoes get the appropriate correction for their foot type.
- Answering the phone a

- Cleaning and maintaining bathrooms and living spaces in vacant and occupied rooms
- Cleaning common areas
- Assisting in laundry with washing, drying, folding, and stacking of towels and bed sheets

- Cleaning occupied tables of empty plates and glasses
- Quickly turning over tables to maintain routine and to minimize guest wait times
- Keeping the wait stations stocked of all necessities
- Taking dessert and drink orders
- Pouring water at empty and occupied tables