Being underwater isn’t exactly a comfortable environment. It’s not where humans were designed to be, it usually constitutes little impact on actual life beyond swimming. For Mayra Yundt-Pacheco, the ocean is her home. Instead of being underwater for 30 seconds at a time, she is underwater hours at a time, with the help of an impressive array of gear.

Yundt-Pacheco, a certified SCUBA diver, works with Coral Restoration Foundation, her senior project. Their goal is to resurrect the dying coral reefs of the Gulf of Mexico and the coastal Atlantic Ocean.

The opportunity to work with real scientists is a treat not many get, and is the result of years of hard work and interest in the area. Trips like these require a lot of training, and need a SCUBA license before they are possible.

“Getting a SCUBA license is difficult, you have to travel since Dallas isn’t exactly a great place for SCUBA,” said senior Alek Milewski, another certified SCUBA diver. “It can take years before you actually get it, so you’re an expert by the time you’re there.”

SCUBA enabled her to follow her dreams, which have always involved working with marine species and being able to help out creatures of the deep.

“She’d told me all about it,” said senior Elizabeth Jowers, a friend of Mayra’s. “Coral is actually very important for the maritime environment, and while I’d heard that humans have destroyed many reefs I didn’t know they were possible to restore.”

Yundt-Pacheco’s work has created hundreds of new reef sites with the CRF, which she applied to in a tenuous admission process. The project has a large impact on her life, and requires support to maintain the ability to go on such trips.

“Her parents are very supportive; they have raised her to help others and the environment, and she’s very committed to making the world a better place,” Jowers said. “She’s inspiring – she dreams and she works to accomplish them. Mayra’s definitely going to do great things in life.”

Her trips have led her across much of the east coast, from the Gulf to the Keys and beyond. They help not only with her senior project, but with her future career choices and things that she feels are right. She’s also a devoted photographer, and there are few better places to take pictures than in a coral reef that she helped plant.

“I am so happy to have this opportunity,” Yundt-Pacheco said. “The love of my life is the ocean, and having the chance to work with professionals helping change something for the better is an amazing feeling.”