Valery Serrano is currently a post-graduate who completed a BS degree majoring in biology and minoring in environmental science at the University of West Florida. During her undergrad career, Valery has completed; 3 internships, a research project, and worked a part-time job while maintaining her GPA. Valery completed her first internship in her first year of college at the Gulf Breeze Zoo, where she discovered the world of animal care and captive conservation. From here, Valery dove deeper into captive animal care when interning at the Wildlife Animal Sanctuary. During her last year, Valery interned with the Choctawhatchee Basin Alliance monitoring, and surveying terrapin populations. While interning, Valery also worked with Student Support Services on her campus. She worked with students and ensured quality data for governmental auditing. Valery also completed a research project with other students where she collected data from public surveys and presented the findings at a conference. She is currently enrolled in a Master of Arts in Biology at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.