{"id":54739,"date":"2025-07-09T11:32:19","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T15:32:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/?p=54739"},"modified":"2025-07-09T11:52:07","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T15:52:07","slug":"aquarium-schussheim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/aquarium-schussheim\/","title":{"rendered":"Aquarium Volunteer Swims with the Fishes (and Sharks and Turtles  &#8230;)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\">Veteran diver Alan Schussheim \u201990 uses his scuba expertise to help clean tanks, feed marine life, and make visitors smile<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-cornell-red-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-940dc0d15793e674a9ba398b7526eb84\"><em>\u201cBear Hugs\u201d celebrates heartwarming stories of Cornellians on the Hill and around the world. Have an idea? Email us at <a href=\"&#x6d;&#x61;&#x69;&#108;&#x74;&#111;&#x3a;&#x63;&#111;&#x72;&#x6e;&#x65;&#x6c;&#108;&#x69;&#97;&#110;&#x73;&#64;&#x63;&#x6f;r&#x6e;&#101;&#x6c;l&#46;e&#100;&#117;\">&#x63;o&#x72;&#x6e;&#x65;&#108;&#x6c;ia&#x6e;&#x73;&#64;&#x63;&#x6f;&#114;&#110;&#101;l&#x6c;&#x2e;&#x65;d&#x75;<\/a>!<\/em><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By <strong>Melissa Newcomb<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">Once a month, Alan Schussheim \u201990 scuba dives with fish, sharks, eels, stingrays, turtles, and more\u2014all without putting a fin into the ocean. Schussheim is a volunteer at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newportaquarium.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Newport Aquarium<\/a> in Newport, KY, where he helps clean tanks, feed marine life, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re the housecleaners for the fish and the water,\u201d Schussheim says of himself and his fellow volunteers. \u201cYou don\u2019t really think about, \u2018Who cleans the windows in an aquarium?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"819\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/on-the-boat-A-819x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"Alan Schussheim on a boat with scuba diving equipment on smiling and preparing for a dive\" class=\"wp-image-54778 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/on-the-boat-A-819x1024.jpeg 819w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/on-the-boat-A-240x300.jpeg 240w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/on-the-boat-A-768x960.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/on-the-boat-A-632x790.jpeg 632w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/on-the-boat-A-316x395.jpeg 316w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/on-the-boat-A-280x350.jpeg 280w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/on-the-boat-A-140x175.jpeg 140w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/on-the-boat-A-70x87.jpeg 70w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/on-the-boat-A-400x500.jpeg 400w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/on-the-boat-A-200x250.jpeg 200w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/on-the-boat-A-100x125.jpeg 100w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/on-the-boat-A.jpeg 978w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 819px) 100vw, 819px\" \/><figcaption>On a dive trip.<\/figcaption><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Schussheim\u2019s duties include helping to clean a 60,000-gallon, warm-water tank\u2014filled with vibrant corals and tropical fish\u2014that forms a tunnel around visitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many of the tools he uses to wash the tank\u2019s glass walls and carefully remove algae from coral are the same ones found in homes\u2014like vacuums, cleaning mitts, and Mr. Clean \u201cmagic erasers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At meal times, Schussheim not only gets to hand-feed puffer fish and starfish, but finds himself popular with many of the aquarium\u2019s other inhabitants.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou squeeze the food out of a bottle, and you\u2019re swarmed by 150 coral reef fish,\u201d says Schussheim, who majored in operations research and industrial engineering on the Hill and was a member of the Big Red Marching Band.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Schussheim\u2019s volunteer gig also makes him a de facto ambassador for the aquarium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He\u2019s encouraged to engage with visitors through the glass\u2014and he loves to make the most of it by waving, making funny faces, and even playing games of rock, paper, scissors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>You don\u2019t really think about, \u2018Who cleans the windows in an aquarium?\u2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve interacted with countless children, teens, and adults,\u201d he says\u2014noting the time that one of his granddaughters visited while he was in the tank and proudly exclaimed to everyone within earshot that the scuba diver was her grandpa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNot only does this bring me joy, but I\u2019m able to give others joy\u2014and that has been awesome. I\u2019d love to see all the photos people have taken of me in my scuba gear, making others laugh.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Schussheim lives in southwestern Ohio, driving 150 miles round-trip to the aquarium roughly once a month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery alignwide has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" data-id=\"54776\" src=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/marching-band-A-1024x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"Alan Schussheim during his time as a student on the Hill with his marching band uniform on.\" class=\"wp-image-54776\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/marching-band-A-1024x1024.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/marching-band-A-300x300.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/marching-band-A-150x150.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/marching-band-A-768x768.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/marching-band-A-632x632.jpeg 632w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/marching-band-A-316x316.jpeg 316w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/marching-band-A-400x400.jpeg 400w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/marching-band-A-200x200.jpeg 200w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/marching-band-A-100x100.jpeg 100w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/marching-band-A.jpeg 1260w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"900\" data-id=\"54779\" src=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/graduation-A.jpeg\" alt=\"A young Alan Schussheim holding his Cornell University diploma and smiling while wearing a white dress shirt and tie\" class=\"wp-image-54779\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/graduation-A.jpeg 900w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/graduation-A-300x300.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/graduation-A-150x150.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/graduation-A-768x768.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/graduation-A-632x632.jpeg 632w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/graduation-A-316x316.jpeg 316w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/graduation-A-400x400.jpeg 400w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/graduation-A-200x200.jpeg 200w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/graduation-A-100x100.jpeg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/figure>\n<figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-caption wp-element-caption\">Cornell days: In the Marching Band, and displaying his diploma.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>He started volunteering around four years ago, having retired after a long career with Procter &amp; Gamble, most recently as its global director for cybersecurity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He has more than three decades of experience in scuba, and is a certified rescue diver through the Professional Association of Dive Instructors (PADI), the sport\u2019s governing body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Schussheim has swum with giant mantas in Micronesia; with blacktip reef sharks in the Caribbean; and with stingrays\u2014who, he says, are surprisingly playful\u2014in Mexico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>I\u2019d love to see all the photos people have taken of me in my scuba gear, making others laugh.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Back home in Ohio, he dives in quarries\u2014where he has encountered a host of submerged items over the years, including an airplane, a boat, and a toilet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cVolunteering with the aquarium allows me to help, and also to dive more frequently and in different environments,\u201d he observes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI can dive with stingrays, sharks, coral reef fish, Caribbean fish\u2014all within a 75-mile drive of my house.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"819\" src=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/needs-photoshop-2024-03-10_13-15-36_374-A-1024x819.jpeg\" alt=\"Alan Schussheim in the tank with his scuba gear on while his young granddaughter looks at him from the other side of the glass smiling at the Newport Aquarium\" class=\"wp-image-54777\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/needs-photoshop-2024-03-10_13-15-36_374-A-1024x819.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/needs-photoshop-2024-03-10_13-15-36_374-A-300x240.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/needs-photoshop-2024-03-10_13-15-36_374-A-768x614.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/needs-photoshop-2024-03-10_13-15-36_374-A-1536x1229.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/needs-photoshop-2024-03-10_13-15-36_374-A-1264x1011.jpeg 1264w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/needs-photoshop-2024-03-10_13-15-36_374-A-632x506.jpeg 632w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/needs-photoshop-2024-03-10_13-15-36_374-A-316x253.jpeg 316w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/needs-photoshop-2024-03-10_13-15-36_374-A-400x320.jpeg 400w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/needs-photoshop-2024-03-10_13-15-36_374-A-200x160.jpeg 200w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/needs-photoshop-2024-03-10_13-15-36_374-A-100x80.jpeg 100w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/needs-photoshop-2024-03-10_13-15-36_374-A.jpeg 1575w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Greeting a special visitor: his granddaughter.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Sometimes, when Schussheim is cleaning or doing other tasks, he has to gently guide the sea creatures out of his way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s usually no big deal\u2014but there was one time when a large sea turtle named Denver took exception, and gave him a light smack on the head with his flipper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThat turtle,\u201d he says with a laugh, \u201cis the owner of the tank.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Top: Schussheim on duty at the aquarium. (All photos provided.) <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\">Published July 9, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Veteran diver Alan Schussheim \u201990 uses his scuba expertise to help clean tanks, feed marine life, and make visitors smile<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":54753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"alumni_hub_syml_posts":[52453,25393,41402],"footnotes":""},"categories":[652],"tags":[],"cornell_year_post":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-54739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bear-hugs"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Aquarium Volunteer Swims with the Fishes (and Sharks and Turtles ...) - Cornellians | Cornell University<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Veteran diver Alan Schussheim \u201990 uses his scuba expertise to help clean tanks, feed marine life, and make visitors smile\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/aquarium-schussheim\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Aquarium Volunteer Swims with the Fishes (and Sharks and Turtles ...) - 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