Solange Gerdeman

We woke a half an hour earlier than normal—7:30 instead of 8—to prepare for our field trip to the Woods Hole Oceanagraphic Institute Marine Biological Laboratory. We were to meet with Molly, a marine engineer at the Institute. Our breakfast was the same as usual: a smorsgasbord of breakfast foods like cereal, yogurt, bagels, and the ilk. After we packed, we drove over to MBL for our field trip. There, Molly showed us a variety of ROV (remote operated vehicles) and AUV (automated operated vehicle), including Jason, the ROV that discovered the wreckage of the Titantic. Molly also introduced us to cutting edge research. Marine science is undergoing a massive technological revolution, and Molly, along with all the folks at WHOI and MBL are a part of that.

After her introductory presentation, Molly led us to MBL’s working lab where we got to see scientists and engineers at work. The lab was filled with laser cutters, 3D printers, and other cutting edge machinery. There, we were given keychains that were laser cut right before our eyes. It was amazing and revolutionary to see researchers at work! After a short lunch break, we had the privilege and opportunity to drive (using an XBox controller) an actual ROV in its test tank. We could see ourselves through the ROV’s camera, as if we ourselves were the fish. It was the highlight of our day!

Christoph Kershaw – Bedford High School  &  Melissa Giacobbe – Metea Valley High School

Unfortunately, today we were woken up at 6:00, but by the end of the day our SEA group had acquired 15 gallons of popcorn, some insane whale experiences, and a first hand look at a replica of the Mayflower.

We were all exhausted in the morning so we slept during the bus ride to Plymouth, call that a 45 minute nap. Upon waking up we were ushered onto a large boat in the bay, where we found our seats and enjoyed the ocean breeze. After departing we saw whales fairly quickly, I’m told it was actually almost an hour but it was wicked nice on the deck and we listened to music and learned about the history of Plymouth from a speaker above deck.

Eventually we saw some Humpback whales, Minke whales and Fin whales in the distance. We approached and got really cool views of spouts and tales. At one point the Humpback that we were watching did a really strange move where it shook its tail vigorously in the air. I think it was either dancing or very aggravated with us.

After that we left. We had some free time when we got back to Plymouth, which I spent down by the water and our group toured a replica of the Mayflower. The speaker made it clear how horrible it must have been under the conditions of 1600s seafaring. Also Macy and Natalie won collectively 15 gallons of popcorn for free by spinning a wheel at a local popcorn shop, which we failed to finish before getting back on the bus. Once we were back at campus we cooked some food and relaxed for the rest of the day.

Graham McCarthy and Isa Roth

Today's wakeup time was 8:00 and after breakfast we started our day with watch meetings. After meeting with our watches and doing our respective chores everyone gathered in Madden for oceanography. In oceanography we did a mock convention creating posters and writing articles supporting different perspectives on ocean acidification. Each person was given a side on the issue in order to simulate a realistic seminar that would’ve been held on an environmental topic.

With a brief snack break we were off to our ocean’s and society classwhere Ben educated us about the transatlantic slave trade and piracy. We focused on one pirate in particular known as Samuel Bellamy, captain of the whydah that carried 4 tons of gold and silver before its tragic demise to a northeastern storm. Captain Bellamy is arguably one of the richest pirates to ever do it, plundering 120 million dollars worth of treasure his nickname “Black Sam” is renowned even to this day. After class we had lunch which was followed by a trip to Surf Drive for our final session of oceanography.

On the beach we used Seine nets, (long nets fastened to wooden dowels which are pulled parallel to the beach in order to collect fish) and recorded the PH and salinity of the water. When class ended the majority of students stayed on the beach during our free time where we swam, listened to music, and made sand castles. Shortly after we arrived back on campus dinner was ready and after everyone ate we all headed up to Madden for exploratory. For our exploratory activity we painted on shells and rocks collected from Surf Drive. Concluding the day with a movie during study hall (we didn’t have too much homework I swear) everyone headed back to the cottages at 9:30 and got ready for bed.

Graham McCarthy and Isa Roth

Leif Thesen and Calvin Chiu

Today we woke up at our normal time, 8 am and had a wide variety of things for breakfast. It was the first cool night on campus, so everyone was well rested. After our watch meetings, we set off to our first class of the day, Oceanography.

After Oceanography with Karen Manning, we set off with our second Oceanography class, where we learned a lot about waves and tides. We drew diagrams about the orbital particle motion of a wave breaking into shore, as well as diving into how exactly the moon affects the tides. We also participated in an interesting activity where we plotted the journeys of lost shoes and rubber duckies at sea, following ocean gyres.

We also investigated our finds on Woodneck beach from the previous day. We managed to identify a lot of the species we had collected, as well as draw a detailed map of the beach area, and where certain species were from. We also looked at zooplankton under a microscope and drew detailed sketches. It was fascinating to see the tiny creatures that are so essential to ocean ecosystems.

After 3 classes of oceanography we got to relax during our free time and then had an early dinner at 4:30, in preparation for our trip to Woods Hole, where we had the opportunity to watch the groundbreaking documentary: Earth Emergency. It covered all bases of climate change, diving into the incredible impact of positive feedback loops on carbon emissions. The documentary included the Dalai Lama and Greta Thunberg. After the documentary, we had the chance to participate in a panel consisting of leading climate scientists at Woodswell Climate Research Center.

Back on campus, we had a delicious late-night snack of chocolate chip muffins and then did some quick studying in Madden before rounding off the day.

By Harper Greenfield Oakwood Secondary School and  Jimmy Shen Culver Academy 

Today we had an early start to our day with a quick breakfast at the picnic tables. A bus promptly pulled up to campus, and we were taken down to the museum. The ride was around forty-five minutes giving those who were still tired from the early wakeup, some time to rest our heads. We were met by Ben, our Oceans and Society teacher, right in front of the museum and were split up into three groups led by museum guides.

The guide first took us to the colonial area, which briefly talks about the history of trading and colonialism in New Bedford. This area contains information about how Europeans learned the currents for locals and convinced them to sell this land to Europeans. The guide brought us to the figure of Barthlomew Gosnold, the first Europeans who traded with local citizens in New Bedford.

Then, the guide took us to the area of Captain Paul Cuffe. Captain Paul Cuffe was one of the famous black captains at that time. He is the first color who got invited to white house as a guest. He was black and half natives. He was also an abolitionist in the 19th century by offering jobs of crew members for black people. The guide also mentioned that in the 19th century, Quakers who lived in New Bedford provided job for some slaveries as they believe everyone has the rights to live in the light. 

The guide then took us to a tall room covered with artifacts found on and off the ships of their time. Big, looming windows were cast over the cases, bringing life into these now dusty objects. In the center of the room sat a model of one of the most prosperous whaling ships of all time. This very ship that we saw is the largest known model of any whaling ship ever kept in a museum. We were led onto the ship, and learned about the process of breaking down the whales bodies after they were caught and brought to the deck of the ship.

During this process, the whale would be hung from a designated hook and stripped by hand by the crew. Once pieces of blubber and internal organs were separated from the whale's tough skin, the whale's insides would steep in these tripods above a large fire. The meat from the animal would produce an oil and once extracted and collected, the leftover meat would be shoveled into the flames to keep the fire burning. This process was vigorous and took time and effort from everybody working on these ships. To catch the whale and bring it to the ship was a whole other story…

To catch these whales, six men at a time would squeeze into these small boats located on the sides of the main body of the boat. Once a whale was spotted, and the boats lowered, the men would row out to the whale with huge wooden oars and stab it with a harpoon attached to the small boat.

The whale would then drag the small boat around in circles for hours, this was commonly known as a Nantucket Slayride. Once the whale would tire out and stop moving, the crew would wait in hopes for their boat to pick them up and take the whale on deck. Men would wait for hours hoping for their boats to return, wishing that they weren't forever lost at sea.  

At the end of the day, we had gathered around the fire to hear some of the local stories from a formal storyteller Jenny. We ended our day by hearing some of the stories that are related to witches.  

Anika Mootha – Greenhill School &  Caroline Mostofizadeh- Palo Alto High School

Today we started the day off with Karen’s oceanography class where we covered chemical oceanography and participated in the Carbon Molecule Activity. During this activity, we took on the role of a carbon atom as it cycled through the Earth, moving around different stations. To simulate the carbon cycle, we rolled a dice to determine what would happen to the carbon molecule in different possible scenarios.

Next, Emma G made a bomb lunch and then we headed to our Oceans and Society class where we learned about the history of the whaling industry. Ben started the lecture with a brief explanation of the different types of whales and the reasoning behind hunting these animals. We also discussed the life of a whaler during the 19^th century and how the whaling industry has evolved. Specifically, we touched base on the endangered species of the Right Whale and the controversial debate between the lobster industry and conservation of this whale, which we would learn more about later into the day.

In the afternoon, we had the opportunity to have a zoom call with Jessica McCordic and Rochelle Gordon, two members of the NOAA Affiliate, who specialize in acoustic and marine soundscapes. Despite technical difficulties, it was super interesting to learn about how human activity interrupts marine animals ability to communicate and navigate. We even had the opportunity to all make our own spectrograms based on the sounds we heard outside!

After this interesting conversation, we had free time, and some went to the beach while others stayed on campus and played games.

To end off a busy day, during exploratory, we watched a documentary on the endangered Right Whale called Entangled. This emotional documentary exposed us to the current threats facing this vulnerable animal.

Natalie Aluwihare

Today we woke up at our normal time and had a whole bunch of things for breakfast. After our watch meetings, we set off to our first class of the day, Oceans & Society. We learned about the different types of sailing methods and different types of sails. We also watched a short video about the Wampanoag’s relationship to the earliest English settlers, the pilgrims.

After Ben Kochan’s Oceans and Society Class, we set off with our Oceanography teacher, Karen Manning, to Woodneck beach for some more water sampling. At the beach, we split into four groups to search different parts of the beach and marsh areas. The group at the beach, Natalie, Isa, Ben, Lily, and Edward, found many tiny crabs in the rocks along the shore, along with hermit crabs, sea grass, and dead man’s finger seaweed. We later walked down through the river where Ben found a rock covered in red coral or algae. As the groups were beginning to pack up their buckets and water samples, Graham spotted a beautiful blue crab. Not so friendly, it raised its pincers as the spectating people. Hilariously and heroically, Graham used one of his slides to bring the crab into a bucket. 

After releasing the big crabs, we went back to campus for lunch where we had pasta and salads. Following lunch, we had another Oceans and Society class. We listened to another song of the day about the SS Edmund Fitzgerald sinking in lake Michigan then headed off to another book club. In the Sea Shanty group, we decided on the specific song we are going to present later in the program and started to go over the history and evolution of lyrics. Scattered across the Madden Center, groups were holding their own activities for book club. In the library, two groups resided, one reading the book Under the Sea-Wind by Rachel Carson and the other reading a book on knots and practicing for themselves. A calm and productive evening led us into dinner, a selection of quesadillas. 

Once again heading back to the Madden Center, the students performed yoga and meditation for the Exploratory Period with the RA Emma Gould. Succeeding the relaxing session and a dry study hall, we went back to our cottages for a “good” night’s sleep.

Macy Brigham-Hill — Sidwell Friends School &  Edward Iannuzzi-Sucich – Storm King School

Today we woke up bright and early (at 6:45am!!) to go on a field trip to visit Woods Hole and tour the Vineyard Sound on the Zephyr. After a short breakfast, we drove to Woods Hole and split into two groups. While one group was aboard the Zephyr, the other group did a scavenger hunt in town, and then we switched.

On board the Zephyr, the group voyaged off shore into the harbor surrounding the village. While on the boat, Rob, the knowledgeable director of our trip, showed us how to use an underwater camera to discern the seafloor through a TV screen in the cabin. We also used a plankton net to gather samples of zooplankton and phytoplankton so that we could look at them under the microscope back on campus. In addition, we dispatched a bigger net so that we could observe a variety of native marine organisms, such as horseshoe crabs, spider carbs, conches, and urchins. We closely examined the organisms and took lots of pictures! The groups also engaged in other exercises such as measuring the water clarity using a secchi disk.

In addition to touring the Vineyard Sound, both groups got to explore Woods Hole. Before our scavenger hunt, we played in a sandbox. The sandbox had a sensor that detected the altercations that we created in the sandbox terrain. A computer projected a visual of a topographic map on the sandbox, and in response to our altercations to the sand, the projection changed. Areas of lower elevation were considered to be water, and areas above the “water” were colored according to their range in elevation. After that, we spent the majority of our time running around through different parts of Woods Hole, searching for the items on our list.

Among the landmarks we visited were the Rachel Carson statue and the Water Street Drawbridge over Eel Pond. In addition to searching for landmarks, the scavenger hunt also prompted us to talk to locals. One individual gave us his name and informed us of the drawbridge’s weight. Outside of the scavenger hunt, much of our time in Woods Hole was also spent wandering into the local restaurants and purchasing burritos, coffee, ice cream and more!

We returned to campus for lunch, and after lunch we enjoyed the book club. As part of our Oceans and Society class, students chose a book or alternatively a collection of poems or sea shanties that they wanted to study in groups with other students. After a few weeks of reading and discussion, all groups will present something related to their stories to the rest of the SEA class. Many students spent their free time following the book club back at the beach swimming, collecting rocks, and relaxing on the rocky shore. After dinner, we ended the evening with an exciting exploratory, where we listened to our classmates' show-and-tell presentations on marine related topics of interest!

Marina Loewen – Lord Byng Secondary School & Miles Gabriele-Burke St. Francis School

We started today off with a walk to the knob. It’s a little dike with a point at the end where you can view of the ocean. There was a really nice wind that took the edge off of the heat. Some ladies, didn’t technically yell at us, but were rather passive aggressive. We saw a lot of plants, such as roses, poison Ivy, and bush honeysuckle. The honeysuckle berries look very tempting, but are actually poisonous.

In our ocean oceanography class, we looked at a lot a lot of scientific equipment. For example, some quadrats, the dissolved oxygen tester, PH tester, and an instrument for measuring salinity. Lunch was good, we had tomato soup and grilled cheese, we ran out of bread. And then we saw a nature documentary about colors in the natural world it cool. Also, we were inside so that was nice because it was really hot today, and humid it was very humid.

After lunch we had book club, which despite the name is a very open-ended activity. Some of us our working on knots, the diagrams in the book are absolutely terrifying, but we are working towards it. Other groups are reading and one group might be doing sea shanties. We sat outside at the picnic tables which was nice but we had to stick to the shade.

Dinner was amazing, it was prepared by or lovely RA Emma G, who made pasta as well as four different sauces. The conversations were lively and people are definitely starting to get more comfortable with each other.

During free time, people sort of drifted around and did their own stuff, a small group or students went to the beach, the water is amazing. It's supper warm, but cold enough to be refreshing, and the beach itself is covered in so many beautiful rocks, they are sort of see through but just cloudy enough to have a different look from sea glass. It was lovely, especially because today, if we haven't already mentioned it was very hot and humid.

Then the RAs gave us a really neat presentation on their post high school/collage experience, it was funny and engaging and really inspirational. A lot of them went to schools in Minnesota, so that a neat coincidence.

Ella McCarthy- Belmont High School  &  Sophie Buckley- SSSAS

This morning we were awakened by our lovely RAs at 8:00 am. We then had breakfast and began our chores. Everyone is separated into four different watches and each watch is assigned a different task. These tasks include cleaning the common area, cleaning dishes, and cleaning the bathrooms(yum!). All jokes aside we all teamed up to get our chores done even though they may have not been the most fun. Next we had our first classes!

The first class that we had was Oceanography, taught by Karen Manning. Today we learned about Biological Oceanography. The second class that we had was Oceans & Society, taught by Ben Kochan. We learned about the Course and its overview. The third class that we had was taught by a guest nature illustrator, Tricia Cassady. She taught us the skills that we will use later when illustrating in the field. 

During our free time most of us chose to go to the beach. It was very hot today so the water felt very refreshing. The beach is only a 10 minute walk from campus! 

After a very tasty dinner of burritos we had an Exploratory period. Today we were led through an exercise that helped to strengthen our investigation, observation, and team building skills. We then had a study hall to finish any class work/ assignments we had.