Pinch me—I must be dreaming. I’ve landed in a room full of dive safety professionals from across North America, and it’s part of my job to be here?! I began my role as Diving Safety Officer at Vancouver Aquarium just under a year ago, in March 2025. Since then, the ADPA mailing list has been a familiar presence in my inbox, but until now my engagement with this community—one I’d heard so much about from Jeremy Heywood, former DSO at Vancouver Aquarium—had been entirely virtual. As a recipient of the 2025 Brett Dodson Scholarship, I was thrilled to finally connect with ADPA members in person.
Before the meeting, I was warned that this group could be exceptionally welcoming, knowledgeable, and passionate about the field of scientific and occupational diving, and that turned out to be exactly the case. By the end of the day, I left feeling energized and genuinely grateful to be supported by such a community as I begin my journey as a new DSO.
Although I’ve been an active scientific diver for nearly a decade, the aquarium environment is completely new to me. Hence, I was especially keen to soak up everything I could about operations, equipment, training, and safety considerations across the wide range of aquariums represented at the symposium, with the goal of expanding my foundation on which to guide our dive program in Vancouver. After just one day, my brain (and my notebook) was swirling in every direction—an exciting mess of new contacts, knowledge tidbits, and ideas to bring back with me. Notes included pointers on diving with venomous animals in close quarters, gender inclusivity and safety in dive programs, confined-space dive operations, integrating progressive task-loading skills into diver training and assessments, proactive versus reactive safety culture, rescue drills that included a full walkthrough with local EMS, new equipment available from industry partners, and navigating dive leadership as a young woman.
One particularly special moment of the symposium was getting to watch my supervisor, Jeremy Heywood, receive this year’s Jim Hart Founder Award. I couldn’t help but smile (and nod along) as Ashley McCarthy shared a touching story about her experience in Vancouver with Jeremy—highlighting his natural inclination and intentional effort to warmly welcome fellow dive professionals, and his lasting contributions to ADPA and the DSO community over the past decades.
The whirlwind of a day wrapped up with a fantastic networking social—perhaps best remembered as the year of the stylish yet oh-so-functional ADPA toques (that’s Canadian for “beanie”). It was a chance to connect, share laughs, and swap stories about all things underwater. Thankfully, it wasn’t a goodbye—just a “see you later on the DEMA show floor,” which made the following days of our adventures in Orlando even more enjoyable as familiar faces popped up throughout the week.
Looking ahead, I’m excited to attend more ADPA Symposiums, including the annual Training Day. It’s clear that an incredible amount of work goes on behind the scenes to keep this organization running, and that ADPA serves as a vital support system for so many DSOs. I’m excited to continue building community within ADPA—and grateful to be part of it. I hope that many of you reading this newsletter will become familiar faces year after year.
