Graduate Spotlight
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Melissa Ryan, M.S. in Natural Health
“Getting Ahead of the Wave”
On the southeastern shores of Connecticut, Ocean Technology Foundation is a think–tank in every sense of the word. This innovative 501c(3) is becoming known for its historical exploration, multi–disciplinary collaboration, ecological studies, and scientific recommendations for environmental protection.
As both a project manager and educator with OTF, Clayton College graduate Melissa Ryan recently joined an unforgettable six–week sea hunt for a Revolutionary War shipwreck, dispatched as if from another place and time, along the northeastern coast of Yorkshire, England.
During much of the summer of 2006, this voyage of discovery encompassed classroom demonstrations on the methods and mindset of underwater exploration, surveying and documenting deep–sea sonar data from ultrasound devices and magnetometers, facilitating ongoing updates with curious reporters, and occasionally studying alongside an esteemed hydrographer of the Royal Navy.
According to Melissa, OTF’s long–term quest to locate artifacts from this late 18th–century shipwreck continues; once additional funding is secure, experts plan another investigation in the summer of 2007. Talk about a classroom without walls!
This seafaring alumna recently met with CCNH curriculum development faculty, to collaborate on a new undergraduate elective course entitled Oceans and Health. “We’re all connected. The inner environment of the human body is strengthened and nourished by the shared energies of plants and animals — on land, at sea, and in the air. Ecology interconnects our evolutionary environments.
“Governments, public and private initiatives have created several designated Centers for Oceans and Human Health,” she adds proudly, “offering, in this millennium, an environmental orientation and overview of the problems caused by humans, as well as the inspiration for meaningful solutions and remedies. Education at all levels is an important way to ‘get ahead of this wave,’ so to say.”
As a holistic adventurer, while at sea Melissa introduced several natural health modalities of her own: including Reiki treatments to rebalance crew members’ energies, journaling to document and address the psychic dimensions of an extended at–sea voyage, and quartz crystals as a personal catalyst for relaxation and visualization.
“As someone with a more traditional undergraduate degree in biology, the Clayton Studies resonate all the more deeply, and reflect what really matters to me at this point in my life’s journey.
“The integration of body, mind and spirit teachings, applied alongside 10 years’ living–and–working experience following my undergraduate days means, for one thing, that I’m a more appreciative student nowadays.
“I’ve always felt there was more to explore. The combination of choosing to consider some of these more esoteric spiritual beliefs, for my own personal reasons, has added vitality and depth to my experience of life. My husband and I enjoy shopping organic; we also value the rebalancing effects of vibrational therapies. We learn more all the time about living in harmony with nature.”
This article was based on an interview with the graduate.
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