RCC student offers insider look at VIMS

N. Frost Works on Marine Engine

Thanks to an internship arranged by Rappahannock Community College’s Workforce and Community Development Center, student Nathaniel Frost has “found his niche” at the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences in Gloucester Point. The internship, customized both to suit VIMS needs and to allow RCC’s marine trades program to offer a unique learning opportunity to one of its students, also lets Frost show the public what goes on at VIMS.

In an Internet blog documenting his experience, Frost offers a glimpse of what is involved in the maintenance and repair of the research fleet at VIMS, and highlights the relationship between VIMS scientists and their field support team. While most people are aware of the kind of work VIMS does, Frost’s blog brings a fresh perspective, with a “behind-the-scenes” glimpse into the daily lives of VIMS workers.

“I hope that readers will be intrigued by the realm of possibilities offered to someone pursuing a career in the marine trades industry,” says Frost.

The Mechanicsville-born Frost has traveled extensively in Central America, Nepal, India, the Caribbean, and Africa, where he worked on a Wildlife Conservation Society marine research project in Gabon. His exposure to a variety of aquatic environments has fostered an intense interest in ecology and conservation, green technology, fisheries management, and aquaculture. An accomplished sailor, he has crewed on the schooners Serenity and Alliance (where he logged 7000 blue-water miles between Cape Charles, Virginia, to Cartagena, Colombia), and plans to pursue his 100-ton master’s license.

These interests led Frost to transfer from J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College (where he started taking classes at age 13) to RCC, so that he could be closer to the Chesapeake Bay. In addition to classes leading to an associate degree in business administration, he has so far completed four marine trades classes, holds a job at Coastal Marine in Deltaville, and has studied sail-making under Jerry Lattel at Ullman Sails Virginia, also in Deltaville. After his VIMS internship is over and he earns his associate degree, he will join Old Dominion University’s bachelor’s degree program through the office ODU maintains on RCC’s Glenns Campus. He hopes eventually to design his own business, preferably based on the Middle Peninsula, which will combine his long-time interests with the skills he is now acquiring.

At VIMS, Frost has been working on a variety of projects. His favorite to date is the design of a buoy that collects data on water currents; as well as contributing ideas, he has helped with the actual construction of the device, and hopes to help with its deployment. “He comes home literally glowing after a day of work at VIMS,” says his marine ecologist mother, “and working with scientists has re-ignited his interest in academics and the sciences.” Frost’s blog can be viewed at http://www.rappahannock.edu/workforce/marine-trades/vims-blog.

Photo: RCC student Nathaniel Frost, who posts an Internet blog describing his internship experience at the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences in Gloucester Point (arranged by RCC’s Workforce Development Office), is shown working on a motor in one of RCC’s hands-on marine trades classes.