ALUMNI PROFILE
Jorge Vizcaino
Entrepreneur and Volunteer Diver
UWCSEA 1985-1987 Class of 1987
By Brenda Whately
A
bout once a week for the past 14 years, Jorge, a biologist, environmental conservationist and entrepreneur, has donned a wetsuit and dived into the waters of the Kelp Forest and Monterey Bay Habitat Exhibits at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. There, he swims with rockfish, garibaldi, leopard sharks, and seven-gill sharks; all animals indigenous to Monterey Bay. Although none are considered dangerous, Jorge says, “It helps that all the fish are kept very well fed!” Jorge’s volunteer work at the Aquarium involves providing information and education about exhibits to the visiting public along with maintenance, husbandry and feeding activities. One of his favourite duties is to conduct once a month, interactive, narrated feeding shows for which he uses special dive gear that allows him to communicate with the narrator, the dive tender and the public.
Jorge’s three higher IB subjects at UWCSEA were Biology, Chemistry and Maths, the subjects which would shape his university studies and career thereafter. Jorge had arrived at UWCSEA in 1985 from Mexico on a National Committee scholarship. In the true spirit of multiculturalism at the College, he says, “The highlight of my UWCSEA experience was being probably the only Mexican ever in the history of Morris Dancing and then to perform it in the annual Chinese New Year parade!” He also recalls a Theory of Knowledge final paper in which he had to describe the arguments for the existence or non-existence of God, as well as a month-long graduation trip to the Himalayas with John Page and Ann Mayer, as
After completing the IB programme, Jorge went on to study Biology and Chemistry at the University of Texas at El Paso. The hard work may not have come as a surprise but he says, “The shock of going directly from a tropical environment to a desert environment, not to mention the massive cultural differences, came as somewhat of a challenge.” In 1993 Jorge pursued and achieved a Master’s degree in Fisheries Science from Texas A&M University and began a career in the field of fisheries and aquaculture as a hatchery manager for two abalone culture facilities in California. After a few years he decided to ‘switch gears’ as he says, and he took a job in the wine industry where he eventually worked his way up to the position of assistant winemaker. In the year 2000, a biologist friend presented him with the opportunity of moving in a new direction once again and he entered the field of environmental consulting, working for the following couple of years in a large corporation in Monterey as an environmental scientist. The idea of starting his own company began to take shape at that point, and in 2002, with the support of his wife Leah, he launched his own environmental consulting business, Aero-Environmental Consulting. Through a lot of hard work, professional development and sound business development, Jorge’s company has grown considerably since then. He has successfully pursued a number of certifications and in October 2010 he achieved his Industrial Hygienist certification. This involved a long and arduous process requiring five years of qualifying experience, a Bachelor of Science degree which he fortunately already had, and an extensive exam covering everything from ventilation to radiation, noise, ergonomics, toxicology and bio-hazards, to name but a few. He says, “I felt as if I was either re-taking the IB exams or getting a PhD, both of which are pretty tough.” Jorge maintains that, “Without the discipline that I acquired at UWCSEA I would not have been able to accomplish all of the goals that I set myself in building my business.”
Clockwise from top left: Jorge performing his volunteer duties at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Jorge and alumni friends, Jorge and his sons Emilio and Andres. Jorge, Leah and their sons. Jorge with other volunteer divers from the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
His consulting business performs environmental assessments and investigations on commercial, residential and industrial properties. These include checking for hazardous materials such as asbestos and lead, biohazards like mold and bacteria, indoor air quality, and environmental assessments of possible petroleum hydrocarbon releases into the environment by commercial properties. He says, “Our work and actions have a direct impact in protecting workers and community health, in developing appropriate risk management strategies for residential and commercial properties and in evaluating the impact of certain chemicals in the environment.” Aside from building his successful business, Jorge still spends time scuba diving, volunteering at the Aquarium,
playing tennis, hiking, reading travel adventure books and spending time with his wife Leah and his two five year old twin sons, Emilio and Andres. Jorge has managed to keep in touch with several of his old classmates including Alex F, Erik T, Ravi R, Naramsiha R, Daniel H, Haerul B, Sean G, Mark H, Francesca T, Aki H, and Patrick J, to name a few, and he attended his 20 year reunion in Singapore in 2007 as well as the minireunion held in San Francisco last year. To contact Jorge, please visit the UWCSEA Alumni site for his personal email address. For more information about his company, Aero-Environmental Consulting, or to contact Jorge through his company, please visit his website at www.aero-enviro.com
Please send your profile suggestions for the next edition of OneºNorth, to alumnimagazine@uwcsea.edu.sg.
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His other diving activities are conducted with normal SCUBA equipment. Jorge says that his interest in diving and in volunteer work actually started at UWCSEA where he gained his open-water PADI certification and also became involved in the school’s social service programme. He has continued to dive over the years since that first introduction to the sport and currently holds certification as a PADI Dive Master. He has also never stopped donating his time and expertise in volunteer work. Jorge says, “Not only do I love the work at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, it’s a fun way to connect with the marine environment and make a personal contribution to the conservation of the oceans, while at the same time, achieve great satisfaction from educating and inspiring conservation in others.”
being particularly memorable. Jorge involved himself in tennis, soccer, rugby and the scuba diving that he went on to use in his future volunteer work, while pursuing his IB studies at UWCSEA.