NSU hosts Navy, Marines, Coast Guard during Fleet Week
Shark-tagging crew
Nova Southeastern University kept busy with activities for Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard members during Fleet Week 2025, April 22 to April 29.
Among the week’s highlights was an all-day shark-tagging excursion hosted by NSU research scientist Derek Burkholder. The trip included detailed training of how to tag and get samples of sharks in a safe and humane way. There were about 20 military participants, and they were able to catch, tag, measure, sample, and release three sharks: an 8.5-foot tiger shark, an 11.1-foot tiger shark, and a 7.5-foot bull shark.
Nursing students onboard the USS New York
Another activity involved students and faculty from the Ron and Kathy Assaf College of Nursing, who took a behind-the-scenes tour of the USS New York and its medical unit. Led by the ship’s medical staff, the tour included a walk-through of the triage, surgical, and intensive care areas of the ship. The medical staff also provided insights into their duties as they guided the group onto the landing platform and throughout the amphibious dock vessel, explaining the differences between providing patient care on a military ship versus in a traditional clinical setting.
“Seeing this obviously opens up my mind about potential careers down the road in the military,” said Bryce Strzelczyk, an NSU nursing student on the tour. “It was really cool to see a medical staff on an operational Navy ship.”
During Fleet Week, military guests were invited to visit NSU’s Oceanographic Center in Dania Beach and the military reciprocated by offering tours of the USS New York; the USS Cole, a guided missile destroyer; and the USS New Hampshire, a submarine.
Additional activities included a visit to NSU by top Navy officers, a student panel on NSU’s Davie/Fort Lauderdale Campus, and a VIP lunch onboard one of the U.S. Navy’s vessels.
The Fleet Week events were prime examples of NSU’s longstanding dedication to the military. In addition to educational opportunities through its Office of Military Affairs, NSU provides many services through its veteran benefits, the ROTC program, and community partnerships.