By Vincent Aldridge
“Fishy Facts,” the name of the business, is exactly what it sounds like. It was founded by two students, Redwood High School’s Josh Mitchell, ’23 and Mt. Whitney’s Tony Gutierrez Jr., ’23.
It’s a company that’ll give you a Biology fact when requested, or a random fact once per day. The Instagram account, which had its first post on September 27, 2021, is titled @fishyfacts_. The YouTube account, which had its first post nine months ago, is titled “Sam and Sons Aquatics.”
Mitchell says, “Most of them [students] think [Fishy Facts is] kind of cool. Some think it’s a little weird that I know… weird things about animals. There’s some pretty questionable things… that I know, but… someone’s got to know them.”
Image courtesy of Mitchell
Mitchell is currently taking AP Biology with Mr. Jonathan Woodbury, and he says that after class he’ll talk with him about animal reproduction facts. Mitchell says, “He helps me come up with some of my facts, for sure.”
One of the focuses of the business is to gross people out, but Mitchell pointed out that there is a bigger goal he has for his company. Mitchell says, “If I could get one person to maybe change the way they look at the way the natural world works… that’s the goal.” Mitchell adds, “There’s so much more to it than I think most people realize.”
Mitchell is a co-founder of the company, and he says he pulls his facts from his knowledge base, but he’ll also check on Google to verify if he is on the right track. Mitchell says, “I try to to find the weirdest thing possible [to talk about].”
Mitchell says that the hardest part of the process is creating the fact. Because he mainly talks about the weirdest thing possible, it often isn’t school appropriate, so he’ll have to word it in a school-appropriate way. After that, he has to type out the fact. A process that can take a long time. This is because he has to make sure it is understandable for the average reader. After that, he goes through proofreading to make sure that he doesn’t make any critical spelling errors. Once that’s all done: “Boom, send.”
Mitchell says the two career paths he wants to get into are Ichthyology, which is the study of fish behavior and their reproduction, or Ethology, which is the study of general animal behavior and their reproduction.
He says he is preparing for these career paths by already taking AP Biology this year. He plans on taking AP Environmental Science next year. After that, he wants to get plugged into different programs, if available. The goal is to find someone that’ll take him on, and he will also need to do volunteer work. Once that’s all in motion, he wants to build connections in the field. He plans to grow from there.
Tony Gutierrez Jr., ’23 is a student at Mt. Whitney, but despite the difference in schools, the two have co-captained “Fishy Facts.”
Image courtesy of Gutierrez Jr.
Gutierrez runs the Instagram account, @fishyfacts_. He creates each post by taking one of Mitchell’s facts, and formats it in a way so that it can be posted to the platform. Gutierrez says that he has faced zero challenges when creating the posts.
Gutierrez is proud of his work for the company. Gutierrez says, “It is nice to be able to… have people curious about information concerning animals.” He says that he does all the behind-the-scenes stuff. He talks to different people about their logos, runs different accounts, and promotes and manages what Mitchell should and shouldn’t say.
In regards to times where he needed to sub in for Mitchell, Gutierrez says, “I’ve only… substituted for facts maybe two or three times. I’m more of the business person, and less of the actual content.”
Gutierrez has shared his facts with different people. Gutierrez says, “People are usually interested. They usually are interested how I know certain stuff.”
Gutierrez says that they are currently planning to make t-shirts for their business, and they plan on sharing more facts with their church, Grace Community Church.
Gutierrez has an idea on why he is a part of the business. Gutierrez says, “[Josh Mitchell] chose me, mostly because I am kind of smart when it comes to [Biology].”
Gutierrez adds, “I also share his… same process of wanting to spread facts.”
Mitchell doesn’t want students to hesitate to ask him about Biology. Mitchell says, “Don’t be shy. Ask for a fact. Trust me, you won’t regret it.” Mitchell wants to leave readers with this: “Stay curious.”
Tags: Fishy Facts, humans of redwood, Josh Mitchell, redwood students, rhs, student business, Tony Gutierrez Jr.