Notes from our PATHWAYS student.

If you keep up with the CRFPO blog, you might recall seeing my name a few entries back. My name is Christina Uh; I am one of just two PATHWAYS students working at the Columbia River Fisheries Program Office. I currently am a member of the administrative team in the office, working as a student office assistant. Or if you prefer fancy titles, I am an “Office Automation Clerk”.

To give you a quick snapshot of who I am, you would need to know four important things:

1)      I am (very proudly!) the first in my entire family to go to a 4 year university.

2)      I am a member of the Navajo Nation (not tribally enrolled) from my mother and Hispanic from my father. Specifically, my father is from a little place called Oxcutzcab, Yucatan and we have the indigenous Mayans’ blood running in our veins! Pretty cool huh?

3)      I love being outdoors, fishing, hiking, and the Portland Trail Blazers.

4)      I LOVE my family and my dog Maddie (check out her cute face below).

My job here at the office is pretty great. Some of the things I get to work on are; making sure timesheets are correct and ready to be certified, any and all things relating to our staff traveling for work, and other miscellaneous office duties. I consider myself to be two times luckier than the average student office assistant because I also get to spend some time away from the desk.

Once a week I pay a visit to Eagle Creek National Fish Hatchery to feed larval lamprey, or “my little dudes” (as I like to call them). There are 20 tanks, each containing 8 lamprey that all get fed different treatments as part of a captive rearing project. I also try to take advantage of any volunteer activities that I can. For example, over the summer I spent a day working with a crew at the Julia Butler Hansen Refuge catching White-tailed deer for relocation.

 

I am incredibly thankful for the opportunity to work at the CRFPO. Not only do I learn something new every day I go to work, I also get to expand my skills in multiple different areas. I get to learn the “behind the scenes” portion of fisheries work, as well as gain some hands-on, in the field experience. Something I could not have done at just any ol’ office position.

Hiking at King's Mountain

Submitted by Christina Uh.