For how much time Mackey Violich '13 spends in the water, you would think she was a former Cal swimmer or water polo player.
 
Following graduation, the former Golden Bear lacrosse player moved to the Bahamas and is a marine biologist research technician, teaching high school students about marine biology and collecting data for graduate students. Violich is currently attending graduate school at Florida State in the oceanography program, working on her thesis on deep-sea biodiversity and species assemblages.
 
In addition to her work, she also volunteers by teaching the locals on the islands in the Bahamas how to swim.
 
"I grew up by the ocean in Stinson Beach (Calif.)," Violich said. "This mysterious cold water was always a source of curiosity for me. I did a semester abroad in high school at The Island School, where I'm currently teaching. This was my first experience scuba diving and seeing that I could be a marine biologist if I wanted to. Being able to explore the underwater world made me want to learn everything about it."
 
Violich, who double majored in conservation resource studies and environmental economics at Cal, has gone scuba diving all over the world in places like California, the Philippines, the Bahamas, Hawai'i and Fiji. She recalled one particular dive in Fiji looking at shark behavior when a 12-foot tiger shark was extremely close. Her instincts and curiosity told her to get closer to the shark, but she was held back by her diving partner for obvious safety reasons.
 
It's thrilling experiences like swimming with large sharks that make every day an adventure for her.
 
"I go in the field to collect data, and I never know what I'm going to pull up in my traps or see on my deep-sea video," she said. "It could be a new species, which we have discovered two new ones so far. It could be a new organism to this geographic area. This is also the most challenging part because things break all the time in the ocean. The weather could turn or the difficulty of reaching the depths where I'm doing my research. I lose equipment all the time."
 
Violich said it was her time as a student-athlete at Cal that helped prepare her for the challenges of this career path. Working in a team atmosphere, managing time wisely and maintaining a high work ethic have proved to be vital characteristics to have in her field of work now. As a scientist, she is always working in teams, collaborating on ideas and projects, and the time management skills she learned at Cal have helped her tremendously.

Besides the specific work that she's doing for her career, Violich has also gotten a tremendous amount of enjoyment from teaching high school and graduate students. It's a thrill for her to see the rush of excitement on their faces as she did when she first became inspired to work in the sea.
 
"It is the perfect age when they are so excited and able to understand some really hard concept ideas," Violich said about teaching high school students. "One of my favorite moments of teaching was when I took the students out to the deep sea and they got to see the blue water. It is really cool because out there you have no bearings of where you are. You can't tell how deep you are. It is an amazing feeling. I had this one student that refused to go in the water. I finally convinced him to jump in the water. I had to even convince him to wear a mask. Once he finally did, I heard a scream. I turned around to see what was wrong and it was that student yelling through his snorkel. He looked up at me and said, 'this is the coolest thing in the world.' I just smiled."
 
Just as she helped that student as well as many others to life-changing experiences, she had plenty of those during her time playing lacrosse at Cal.
 
While she hasn't been active in the lacrosse community because of her work, she still remembers one big win fondly.
 
"During my junior year we beat Navy in overtime," she said. "It was an amazing feeling. I remember thinking that they were much better than us, and we couldn't believe that we could beat them, but we surprised ourselves and worked together as a team. I remember counting down the seconds to the final whistle.
 
"I loved wearing my blue and gold and being proud to represent our school on the field."
 
Violich is still representing her school fondly, whether it is on the main land or on an island in the deep blue sea.