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Language: en

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The fellowship experience is extremely unique.
It allows you to, really, as an energetic,

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young professional apply your skills and your
enthusiasm to a project right out of graduate

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school. There aren't many other experiences
like that.

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I'm Zoë Johnson, I'm the Climate Change Coordinator for NOAA's Chesapeake Bay Office,

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and I'm a graduate of NOAA's Coastal Management Fellowship program.

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I spent two years as a fellow with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Coastal Program,

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and then I stayed on with the state for another 15 years,

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implementing the sea level rise
response strategy that I had drafted as a fellow.

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The fellowship experience enabled
me to have the job that I have today.

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If it wasn't for that experience, I wouldn't have
moved from Washington state to the East Coast,

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I wouldn't have learned about this amazing
ecosystem here in the Chesapeake Bay, and

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I wouldn't have been able to apply the skills
to a real-world project.

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My fellowship allowed me to prove myself as a professional in the coastal management field,

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but at the same time it exposed me to this field of professionals that were looking for new staff,

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and coastal management fellows provide valuable skills
and expertise to coastal management programs.

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The fellows bring with them enthusiasm, energy,
and new innovative ideas that states need

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to help them address challenging environmental
issues such as climate change and sea level rise.

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The fellowship also gives you the opportunity
to explore a career path you may want to take

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after you complete your two-year fellowship.
You may learn that you don't like to spend

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all your time out in the field in the muck
researching marsh ecology.

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You may learn that you don't like to spend all your time in meetings.

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But the fellowship experience may help you discover what your passion is in coastal management.