{"id":79769,"date":"2024-05-16T14:36:11","date_gmt":"2024-05-16T18:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/?p=79769"},"modified":"2024-05-16T14:36:37","modified_gmt":"2024-05-16T18:36:37","slug":"senior-spotlight-hayden-dickerson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/senior-spotlight-hayden-dickerson\/","title":{"rendered":"Senior Spotlight: Hayden Dickerson"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Abby Van Selous (COM\u201924)<\/strong><\/h6>\n

\"\"Hayden Dickerson was in second grade when he first picked up the marine conservation book <\/span>Reef<\/span><\/i> off his granddad\u2019s coffee table, and his passion for marine science was born. Every time Dickerson (CAS\u201924) visited his grandfather\u2014which was nearly every month at that age\u2014he would revisit the book.<\/span><\/p>\n

One time, he asked his granddad if he could have the book and take it home, but his granddad said no.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the end of that,\u201d Dickerson said.<\/span><\/p>\n

But just a few months later, Dickerson\u2019s granddad gave him a copy of <\/span>Reef<\/span><\/i> for Christmas, which guided his interest toward marine science.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI always had an answer for if someone asked, \u2018What do you want to be when you grow up?\u2019\u201d Dickerson said. \u201cI want to be a marine biologist.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

When it came time to apply to colleges, Dickerson wrote his college essay about <\/span>Reef<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dickerson was originally set to graduate in 2021 with a degree in marine science, but after taking the COVID-19 pandemic particularly hard, he chose to take a leave of absence. He was out of school for five semesters, returning only when he found it possible to complete the re-enrollment paperwork.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dickerson chose to attend Boston University for the Boston University Marine Science Program (BUMP), which provides students with hands-on laboratory and field experience during the Marine Semester.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dickerson traveled to Belize twice as part of the BUMP Marine Semester. He also traveled to Indonesia with the Department of Earth & Environment, which increased his interest in physical science.<\/span><\/p>\n

When Dickerson was in Belize he studied spiny lobsters and, as part of his research, looked at how they interacted with fake spiny lobsters. He wanted to study these interactions to hopefully find a more sustainable mode of fishing. As a part of his experiment, Dickerson placed a spiny lobster in a tank with a fake lobster to see how it would respond to its presence and found that the spiny lobster had no reactions.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt never threatened it,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Changing Course<\/b><\/p>\n

Assistant Professor of Biology Sarah Davies has been both Dickerson\u2019s advisor during his time at BU and his greatest advocate.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dickerson worked on two research papers in Davies\u2019 lab about the mating habits of corals and coral bleaching. He looked at how coral responds to heat stress and presented this research at a conference. Davies also encouraged Dickerson to go to Belize a second time to continue looking at spiny lobsters.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dickerson used to have a 10-year plan for his future \u2013 he would go to college and study marine science, he would conduct research, and he would become a professor so he could conduct research in his own areas of interest \u2013 but after his research experiences and his time away from school, he realized he would rather be an elementary school teacher.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to settle down in a higher needs area to help teach there,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

And when Dickerson told Davies that he didn\u2019t want to continue with marine science or academia after graduating she was in full support.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t see anything else but a smile on her face and joy in her voice that I wanted to do something that\u2019s really important,\u201d Dickerson said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Davies then asked him to be a part of an outreach program she was designing that would teach children about coral and coral conservation. The target audience of this program was elementary schoolers \u2013 the exact age group Dickerson wanted to teach.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe incorporated something that was my new passion with something that I was really passionate about in the past,\u201d Dickerson said. \u201cThat was really cool.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Dickerson thinks it\u2019s more important to teach children than to teach mature adults, which partially fueled the shift from wanting to be a professor to wanting to teach elementary schoolers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dickerson realized he was good with children after teaching children how to skate at local rinks.<\/span><\/p>\n

Helping English Language Learners<\/b><\/p>\n

In January 2023, Dickerson was re-enrolled and moved to Allston. From February through July he worked as a bartender at Troquet in the South End. He found himself with a lot of free time that he wanted to spend in a meaningful way. He walked around Allston looking for things to do and found the Allston Brighton Community Development Corporation, which leads community initiatives such as creating and preserving affordable homes.<\/span><\/p>\n

When he entered the building, he learned about an opportunity to teach English as a second language, which he chose to pursue.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t need to know a foreign language, and it\u2019s a low commitment,\u201d Dickerson said. \u201cThat was my first real teaching experience to other adults.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Dickerson works in the service industry, and at almost every job he\u2019s worked there has been someone more qualified than the job they were working but because they didn\u2019t speak English they didn\u2019t get paid as much, he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re a busser or a dishwasher or a back server,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s like, dude, like this is ridiculous.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Dickerson is currently teaching English to a Romanian woman who recently moved to the United States after retiring.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been really rewarding,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

After he graduates, Dickerson will continue teaching English as a second language. In a few years he wants to return to school to pursue his teaching degree and eventually one day return to marine science.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Abby Van Selous (COM\u201924) Hayden Dickerson was in second grade when he first picked up the marine conservation book […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21329,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79769"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21329"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79769"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79769\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79772,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79769\/revisions\/79772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}