Thread for University of California at Santa Catalina Index | New Thread | Reply | Close | Stick | Delete  University of California at Santa Catalina Starfish 5:59am, July 19, 2009 [Edit] [Delete] The college is just on the outside of the city of Avalon, with a near-beach front campus (in other words, the college is on the beach but is at the level of say a boardwalk, not right where the tide comes in). The college campus offers many different things that are department specific. The main focuses of the college are Marine Biology and Oceanography; however, they offer other majors. While the focus is on water sports (water polo, synchronized swimming, etc), the college still offers indoor sports. However, the way the island's geography and geology is, prevents them from having an athletic field (used for football, soccer, etc.). Also, because most of the college's sports take place in a pool they have both an indoor and an outdoor pool and for sports that take place indoors like basketball they have a gymnasium. Each building has wi-fi(wireless internet) and all buildings apart from the gymnasium have a central student lounge equipped with PC's, vending machines, a small café area, lounge chairs, couches and restrooms. The dormitories of the school, sometimes inhabited by people who have lived on the island their whole lives but mostly holding newcomers to the island, are both divided into male and female sections. However, this is in one building and a small section where the two gender specific dorms meet is co-ed. Every dorm room is equipped with, aside from wi-fi, a land-line telephone jack (students provide their own telephone), a cable-line is provided and connected to a cable box and modem but students must provide their own TVs and computers. All the rooms on the first three floors have one window and there are no windows in the restrooms, the rooms on the top floor have 2-4 windows depending on how they're set up and sometimes a small window in the private bathroom. All rooms on the bottom floor and top floor are completely furnished because they are usually more expensive and by request. The second and third floor both have two beds and two dressers in them. For any rooms, other furnishings can be brought, and there is a 50 dollar fee if you want to replace furnishings with your own (bring your own bed and have the standard one removed) because the campus has to remove these and put them in storage. There is a separate fee for wall-paint, residents can paint the walls but they must be painted back to the normal color before the resident leaves. If the student would like to stay in their dorm room for more than the school year they are assigned to it a 100 dollar charge is put on the cost of their dorm payment. If they simply wish for campus maintenance to paint it back for them it's a 25 dollar fee. The dorm building has four floors, the first floor is single-bed dorms and is usually reserved for students with handicaps that prevent them from taking stairs. The rooms on this floor all have their own attached handicap accessible bathrooms and the rooms are more like handicap accessible apartments than dorm rooms. The middle two floors are regular double rooms where there are two people staying in one room. These floors each have five public to the floor/section restrooms and showers. The girl sections have two restrooms, as do the boys sections and each co-ed section has one because these sections are smaller. The fourth floor has larger rooms that fit three-four residents and have bathrooms private to the people staying in the room. There are fewer of these rooms and they aren't sectioned off, they can be either co-ed or gender specific and are usually given on request which is why they aren't gender specific. The first floor rooms are equipped with multiple emergency call buttons (think the little red button they give you when you're in the hospital to call the nurse!) that pages the nurse during school hours and the hospital during non-school hours. The first floor rooms having an apartment set up have their own little built in kitchens, the other three floors are different. The second and third floor both have little kitchen areas with two tables and a counter. There is a large fridge/freezer, microwave, stove, toaster, blender, and cabinets. There is also a small TV in the kitchen area. The kitchens are stocked by the school early in each semester but all other times students must provide their own food and unless they don't mind sharing their food they should keep in their dorm. Each dorm room on the top three floors have small mini-fridges supplied by the school. The first floor has a lounge with a few couches and arm chairs and other things such as a pool table and a large flat screen (this is left open to players, if you want things the lounges have added here, let myself of Seahorse know and we'll add it.) The fourth floor has both a kitchen area and a lounge and they are pretty much connected/combined. The UCSC cafeteria provides students and faculty with delicious meals from five in the morning until eleven at night. A salad and fruit bar, soup bar, dessert bar, sub station, as well as soda and vending machines are available. If a quick, on-the-go meal is what you’re looking for, swing by the fast food vendors in the cafeteria. You have your choice of KFC, McDonalds, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut. The gymnasium has locker rooms in the basement equipped with showers. The other half of the large basement is like a sports club. The largest portion is filled with treadmills, ellipticals, stair-climbers, exercise bicycles, weight training machines, etc. A smaller portion has a sauna, hot tub/jacuzzi, and a few tanning beds and stand up tanning booths. From both the sports club and the gymnasium there are walkways leading to a separate building that houses the indoor pool; they both have stairs because the one from the basement leads to the first story indoor swimming pool and the stairs from the gymnasium lead to second and third story decks that are used for observing the swimming pool and/or tanning because the roof is clear glass window panes that can open completely. To the other side of the gymnasium, attached by another walkway, is another building housing an indoor racket ball court and tennis court among other things. Below is a list of the different buildings on the school's campus, there are 11 counting the dormitories and counting the gymnasium and it's connections as one. (This list completely unincludes any non-academic establishments residing on the campus.) Edison Hall of Sciences and Mathematics Gates Technology Building Owens Liberal Arts Building Reagan Building - History & Government Monroe Fine Arts Building Harrison Hall of Health and Nutrition UCSC Gymnasium and Indoor pool N. Wood Auditorium Weissmuller Aquarium Eddie Valiant Library H. Ledger Dormitories Edited 11:09pm, July 20, 2009 by Seahorse, moderative.  Weissmuller Aquarium Seahorse 10:51pm, July 20, 2009 [Edit] [Delete] The Weissmuller Aquarium inspires people to enjoy, respect, and protect the aquatic world. Our Values Passion for stewardship of aquatic life and conservation Excellence in our standards of animal care Commitment to create fun, engaging, and educational experiences for everyone Leadership that inspires trust and partnership Teamwork that thrives on inclusion Accountability for fiscal strength Quality that honors our name “Weissmuller Aquarium” Our Vision Embracing these values, the Weissmuller Aquarium will inspire our visitors and partners to celebrate and nurture the world’s aquatic habitats from tropical rain forests to coral reefs. Through pioneering science, conservation, and educational programming, we will confront the pressing issues facing global aquatic habitats. Our legacy to future generations is a world in which aquatic habitats are preserved and restored. Our Commitment Drawing on our mission, values, and vision, the Weissmuller Aquarium will develop a plan that will produce results that advance knowledge and inspire stewardship of aquatic habitats worldwide. We will be recognized internationally as a trusted partner and the respected voice of authority for a healthy and sustainable aquatic world. Animals Come in and visit over 200 species including alligators, piranha, shark, eel, and Japanese carp. Discover some of our featured animals below. Marine Fish Fish are magnificently diverse in size, shape, color, and pattern. Almost all have fins, gills, and scales. About 96 percent are bony fish. The rest are cartilaginous fish: sharks, skates, and rays. Freshwater Fish An estimated 41 percent of fish species are found in fresh water with conditions that differs in many ways from marine environments with the most obvious the salinity. Freshwater fish has gills that diffuse water and at the same time keep the salts of bodily fluids inside. Invertebrates No bones about it! Most of the world’s animal species – up to 99% - are invertebrates! These diverse creatures have one common characteristic: they lack the backbone and the accompanying skeleton of vertebrates. Some invertebrates are very soft, but most have some support structure. Amphibians Frogs, toads, and salamanders are amphibians that most people are familiar with. Amphibians are cold-blooded (ectothermic), smooth-skinned vertebrates (animals with backbones) that are capable of living both on land and in water, usually in different stages of their lives. Reptiles Most people think of snakes when they hear the word reptiles, but reptiles also include chelonians (turtles and tortoises), crocodilians (crocodiles, alligators, caiman, gavials), lizards and tuataras. They are air-breathing vertebrates with tough, waterproof skin that retains moisture. Invasive Species Balance within an ecosystem is important and a non-native animal may have an adverse reaction to their newly found habitat. Experts have also introduced non-native animals and plants to restore aquatic or ecological balance in habitats with much success. Exhibits American Freshwater Ecosystems Gallery Encounter animals from freshwater habitats in every region of the United States. Although many of the native freshwater fish lack the splendid colors of their marine counterparts, they have very important stories to tell. Many of the animals displayed in this gallery, such as the hellbender salamander and the black-banded sunfish, are on the brink of extinction due to habitat destruction and pollution The tanks are divided into small focus areas and highlight major rivers. North: See the bog environment with carnivorous plants and frogs South: Visit the Rio Grande and see the beautiful Texas cichlids. East: Explore local environments, including the Potomac River, which include the invasive and interesting snakehead. West: Discover the animals of the Colorado River, such as the bonytail chub. Central: View the gar of the Mississippi River. Amphibians Gallery Due to their unique biology and the habitats they live in, amphibians are very prone to depletion and mutations from pollution, habitat destruction, urbanizations, and environmental change. Many of the amphibians in the United States are listed as endangered, threatened, or in need of protection. These animals, such as the eastern tiger salamander, are beautiful and rarely seen in the wild due to their elusive nature, but are now even harder to find due to dwindling populations. This gallery highlights salamanders, newts, frogs, and toads to display their amazing adaptations and biology. Amazon River Basin Gallery The Amazon River basin supports some of the most diverse life on the planet. It is home to piranha, freshwater stingrays, tropical tetras, angelfish, discus, emerald tree boa, an electric eel, and an arrowana. The Coral Kingdom While you can visit any gallery in the Weissmuller Aquarium at any time, you may wish to visit this gallery last. After a long journey through all the regions of the world, we have saved the most relaxing for the end: tropical coral reefs. These exhibits are appropriately arranged like a gallery of living art. You will encounter curious garden eels popping up out of the sand and above them a swirling mass of thousands of tiny glassy sweepers. You will finally “find Nemo” as well as seahorses, fairy basslets, yellow-head jawfish and other jewels of the sea. Further along, three impressive exhibits of jellies (“jellyfish”) will mesmerize you. At the center of this gallery is one of the largest living reef exhibits of any aquarium in the world. Living corals and thousands of colorful reef fish are presented in a faithful recreation of a tropical Pacific coral reef, complete with an overhead crashing wave. The Chilly Unknown From Oregon to Japan, from South Australia to South Africa, cold ocean waters teem with fish and marine mammals. Beneath the waves curious animals such as Australian weedy sea dragons, beluga whales, giant Pacific octopus, garibaldi damselfish and Japanese spider crabs hang among rocky ledges and kelp forests. These animals give you a glimpse of the rich variety of life found in cold ocean waters. These are the same regions that support the world’s major fisheries, many of which are in peril. Through a better understanding of the animals that live in these regions you will learn that better management of ocean resources will not only protect marine life but also guarantee sustainable fisheries for everyone. Journey with Giants Walk through an acrylic tunnel or stand in front of a gigantic acrylic viewing window and you will feel like a scuba diver in an endless blue sea, mesmerized by thousands of fish swimming overhead. Schools of predatory trevally jacks, squadrons of small and large stingrays, enormous goliath grouper and hammerhead sharks all ply the waters of this ocean habitat. Conservation Education The Weissmuller Aquarium provides a variety of classes and workshops for UCSC students, helping students to explore, discover, question, and marvel at the amazing cycles of life beneath the sea. By understanding that our water world is amazing, precious, but also fragile, students can become guardians of its health and resourceful trustees of this ocean planet. Edited 10:51pm, July 20, 2009 by Seahorse, author. Index | New Thread | Reply | Close | Stick | Delete