Programs Blog

July 3, 2025

Author: Lyla W., Rochester, New York

Location: The Knob

Hey blog!

I began my day with a very late wake up and rushed breakfast then onto our Oceans &
Societies class with Jeff. We spent class talking about the open ocean and the high seas treaty.
The high seas treaty is biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ). The open ocean, also
known as the pelagic zone, is the vast, largely unexplored area of the ocean beyond the
continental shelf. After Jeff showed us his power point, he broke us up into 4 groups and told us
to create a drawing of a floating island that is sustainable for the environment. We also showed
the ideas that are needed for the future of the High Seas Treaty. We called our island “Wave
Haven.” When we finished we had to present to everyone and talk about our island and explain
why we made the choices that we made.

After class I headed back to my cabin for lunch. Today for lunch it was quesadillas, we sat at the
table and talked about what we hoped our afternoon activity would be! I gathered my sunscreen
and headed to the lab to get our supplies for our field work with Kayla. Unfortunately, the
Pre-College program took all the vans so it was all walking from there.

Once we all arrived at the Knob (ocean side) we all spread out into our groups. My group is
biological oceanography. It’s me (Lyla), Clara, Stella, and Cris. Stella and Clara had the seine
net and Cris and I had the quadrat. Clara and Stella did not have the best of luck with the net on
this side. I went out to try and help them and ended up getting soaked! It was really windy and
the waves were pretty big, that was definitely not helping. When everyone had finished
collecting their data we headed to the bay side at the Knob. On this side Clara and Stella
definitely had better luck; they were able to collect a lot more marine life. After everyone was
done it was really hot. So about 10 of us decided to go swimming. My friend Lea and I decided
to make it our mission to swim out to a dock, of course we completed the mission. We all got out
of the water and had to make our long walk back with soaked clothes and no towels. It was so
worth it!

Now showered and all clean I laid in bed and took a nap. I was awakened to the wonderful smell
of pizza so I wasn’t really mad. While eating I sat with my housemates at the table talking about
all our random ideas and our field trip. My watch was on galley duty today (that means we had to
do the dishes after dinner). It was movie night tonight so I got in comfy clothes and RAN uphill to
Madden with Lily and Lea. We ended up watching the Hunger Games but I only stayed for 30
minutes. Me and Harper RAN back to our house to go have our late night snack. We ended up
staying down stairs talking to one of our PAs, Amelia. I was so tired and still had to write this, so
I got into my PJs, put on my favorite show (Law and Order: SVU). Today was a fantastic day
even though it ended with a pretty bad sunburn, it was definitely a day I won’t forget.

Hi mom, dad, and Wesley! I miss you guys, see you soon.