Sadie Wunder (SSI 2008, SSI/SSII 2010)

Recent Au Sable alum and Messiah College graduate Sadie Wunder (SSI08, SSI/SSII10) has one of those jobs everyone talks about post-college, but one very few people actually have the courage to pursue.  Her life after college resembles a reality TV show, though not the kind you expect.  Waves heave ship vessels skyward, coarse nets bulge and spill fish, ocean wildlife surprise during moments of boredom: Sadie’s life is a living episode of the Discovery Channel’s show “Deadliest Catch.”

Sadie is a fisheries observer, trolling the Alaskan seas with fishing boats venturing out from Dutch Harbor and Kodiak Alaska.  The job varies from flurrying activity and intense concentration to lazy afternoons shooting the breeze and playing cards.  Sadie’s role on the ship is unique.  She collects critical data on all the fish caught on her ship.  She also records threatened and other species accidentally caught (called “bycatch”), marine mammals and birds observed, and any fishing regulations broken.  If it doesn’t sound glamorous, that’s because it isn’t.  But the hint of adventure and the knowledge her careful calculations make a difference keeps her going.  Sadie’s data gets compiled with all of the other data collected on fishing boats throughout Alaska and used to manage the whole Alaskan fishery.  Policymakers use this data to determine “total allowable catch,” the amount of fish a boat can catch of a particular species in a given year.  With fisheries collapsing and many more threatened around the globe, Sadie is one small, but vital piece, in working towards a sustainable planet.

This realization that as individuals we have personal, as well as collective, responsibility for caring for God’s world is a spiritual lesson she learned at Au Sable.  Reflecting on her time at Au Sable, Sadie says, “The best part about Au Sable is the overall attitude of the institution.  The level of spiritual growth through Christian environmental stewardship creates a burden that the students and professors alike can carry together. Knowing that together we are working to be better stewards of creation by finding our own niche in the world and making differences there is a realization I had while at the Michigan campus in 2010. It was this notion that has stuck with me into my career choices and the steps I have taken after graduating. I know that I have done a majority of growth as a person thus far, during my summers in both Washington and Michigan.”

The Au Sable community helped to shape and form Sadie’s thinking, passions, and loves.  It helped to shape her calling.

But Au Sable also went beyond motivating and guiding.  It gave her the skills and tools to make a difference.  Early in her college career, Au Sable provided an avenue for Sadie to pursue her specific interest in biology, Marine Biology.  “I initially went to Au Sable to take Marine Biology because I have always had a passion for Marine systems but Messiah did not have any options for me on campus. There was great opportunity to experience marine life at Pacific Rim on Whidbey Island. I fell in love with Puget Sound's beauty as well as the creatures that live beneath its waters.”

Sadie came back in 2010, this time to the Great Lakes Campus to take ‘Environmental Chemistry,’ ‘Animal Ecology,’ and 'Restoration Ecology' to reinforce what she’d learned about marine ecosystems and to complete her degree requirements and course electives.  She found her experience to be the same: “The professors are always at your disposal and have high expectations for the class. The field components made the theory behind the class come to life.  And the community of science nerds is absolutely refreshing.”

Sadie is one of 101 students in 2010 who ventured out from Au Sable to make their impact for God’s world, to find their place in the story of redeeming creation.  She found hers in the heart of the sea.