Perhaps inspiration struck Brie Myre when she was ten years old and watched her pet red eared slider turtle swim in its containment. Perhaps it struck when she was a sophomore at UNL and attended a field trip to Puerto Rico with Dennis Ferraro. No matter when the motivation to become an animal care technician first hit Myre, it has breathed into her a spirit and passion for the health of turtles that will soon take her to a full-ride graduate program at Southeastern Louisiana University.
Brie Myre, a recent graduate from the fisheries and wildlife program at SNR, has spent the past four years leaping at opportunities to care for animals, especially reptiles. “I came to UNL as a pre-vet major,” Myre explained. “But I worried that I would end up running a small animal practice instead of working with exotics, which is where my heart is.”
So when Myre talked to SNR’s undergraduate adviser Sara Winn, she was happy to learn about the career paths facilitated by fisheries and wildlife studies. “Sara’s the reason I got into this major,” Myre said with a smile. “She told me ‘we can take you where you want to go.’ And she was right.”
Myre’s sites SNR’s national reputation as playing a key role in helping open doors. But she has certainly played a part in maintaining the school’s reputation. Three years ago, Brie interned at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, helping care for reptiles. Two years ago, she interned at the National Marine Life Center in Bourne, MA, where she taught kids and teens about aquatic ecology and cared for sea animals in the animal hospital.
This past summer, Myre lived in North Carolina, where she helped treat over thirty sea turtles with various ailments. Some were sick with viruses, some had been hit by boats, others had adverse effects from swallowing plastic. But the experience wasn’t all about animals’ distress. “I finally got to see sea turtles hatch,” said Brie. “It was the piece of the lifecycle I had missed; I’d seen death and maturity, but never birth.”
“It completed the puzzle.”
Knowing now that sea turtles are her particular focus, Myre will be pursuing an MS in biology while she studies female sea turtles’ reproductive physiology.
Myre points to the influence of several SNR faculty who have inspired her to pursue graduate research. “I really connected with Mary Brown,” Myre explained. “She played a huge role in preparing me for graduate school.” Lab research with Scott Gardner and field research with assorted other faculty also helped solidify Myre’s confidence in pursuing a research-intensive program.
“Every time I talked to another faculty member or student at SNR, they expanded my world view,” said Myre. “There are really cool people working in Hardin Hall.”
Myre recommends that younger SNR students go where their passions lead them. “When you find something that sparks your imagination,” she said. “Run with it.”
As Brie Myre runs with her own passion for one-on-one care for sea turtles, we wish her the best of luck.