Student is host of syndicated children’s television program

Diving among sharks off the Caribbean coral reef -- at feeding time, no less -- could easily be someone’s worst nightmare. But it’s the ideal day job for Molly McKinney, a Television/Digital Film Production major at SUNY Fredonia.

That was one of dozens of assignments that the Fredonia senior, whose 125-pound frame is easily dwarfed by 300-pound sharks, has completed in her dual roles as host and associate producer of “Aqua Kids,” a nationally syndicated children’s television program.

The program, whose pilot episode won a pair of Emmy Awards, teaches children, ages 8 to 12, about the diversity of marine life and importance of preserving aquatic environments, Ms. McKinney explained. Episodes are not taped in studios, but on assorted locations ranging from tropical paradises to massive aquariums.

“They’re actively engaged,” Ms. McKinney said of her cast members, all children. “It’s up close and hands on, every episode. They’re doing everything I’m doing; participate in all the feedings…Everything is very hands-on.”

“Aqua Kids” is produced by Adventure Productions, a Baltimore-based production house that specializes in environmental and historical documentaries. Ms. McKinney, a 2004 graduate of Cazenovia (N.Y.) Central High School, became affiliated with the producer 12 years ago – when she was all of 9 years of age – at an audition.

Children and their genuine reactions to what’s going on in front of them are the foundation of every episode, Ms. McKinney said.

“It’s important that it not be scripted, and we do that for a reason, because we figure we don’t want questions being ‘planted’ on these kids. We want the questions to be natural,” she said. “If we can get kids excited at an early age and passionate about the preservation of aquatic life, perhaps they may carry that concern with them into their adult lives and make positive changes in the environment.”

Ms. McKinney is an integral part of every episode. “I help research the facility that we want to work at, get on the site, talk to scientists there and figure out the opening within two minutes of arriving and hop in front of the camera,” she said.

All those hats fit rather nicely on this adventurous 5-foot, 6-inch redhead, who has also studied biology and ecology in Costa Rica, Guatemala and Panama, and once backpacked in Belize for nearly two months.

“Aqua Kids” duties have taken her to Atlanta’s Georgia Aquarium to tape two episodes on baby zebra shark pups and whale sharks as well as to Texas, North Carolina and Florida, and to the Bahamas to work with dolphins and sharks in their natural habitats.

That’s where Ms. McKinney, just 13 years of age and newly certified in open water diving, took her first salt water plunge. It was on a feeding dive, so she found herself instantly surrounded by some 50 sharks. Back in those days, sharks weighed four times as much as the diminutive diver and were twice as long as she was tall.

“Once I got into the water I was more concerned about breathing; the sharks didn’t pay any attention to you,” as the water was already stocked with shark food. “I was still nervous about making sure the (breathing) regulator was in my mouth properly and my air was turned on.”

Her most recent adventure, in September, was in North Carolina to record a loggerhead sea turtle’s release into the wild. The turtle was part of a program that raises baby turtles, prepares them to survive on their own and ultimately releases them. It was an especially gratifying scene for Ms. McKinney, who had documented various stages of the turtle’s life for the last four years for “Aqua Kids.”

Ms. McKinney’s involvement with the show for a dozen years represents a happy outlet for two long-term passions: aquatic life, which goes back to pre-teen years when she enjoyed catching frogs, snakes and lizards while standing waiste-deep in a creek near her home, and television.

An accommodating faculty has made it possible for Ms. McKinney to be away from campus on extended weekends for periodic tapings.

The “Aqua Kids” experiences have enhanced her course work on campus. “It’s definitely given me producing skills. I understand how a show should be laid out a whole lot better,” she said. “It’s also provided me with great experience working with other facilities, and with some amazing animals that I probably would not have had the opportunity to work with, anything from feeding whale sharks to training dolphins.”

The next assignment whisks her to Florida to see what various organizations are doing to restore the Everglades, where wildlife is being threatened by water degradation, pollution, toxic runoff and habit destruction.

Ms. McKinney, daughter of Mack and Cindy McKinney, follows the careers of big names in this business. “I like Ken Burns a lot and really respect Jeff Corwin of ‘Animal Planet.’ I look up to him for his hosting skills a lot. He’s a scientist, but as far as his handling of animals, he’s always very respectful. He always realizes they’re wild animals and they have defensive mechanisms. It’s your responsibility as a handler to make sure they don’t have to use those. And he’s very conscious of that.”

Ms. McKinney’s plans following graduation are to continue working with “Aqua Kid,” while her long-term goal is to film animal documentaries for National Geographic or the Animal Planet cable network.