Programs Blog

Pre-college

August 13, 2026

We started our day in the classroom. We had two guest speakers talking to us on zoom from the E/V Nautilus ship in the Pacific, from Micronesia. They spoke to us about what they were doing and what life was like on the ship. After that we had normal class for the rest of the morning, learning more about coastal ecosystems and the deep sea, including whale falls and how it manages to support life for years after the whale has died. After lunch we went on a field trip to WHOI’s Quissett campus. The first lab we went to was more focused on engineering and building equipment for scientists to use on expeditions. I thought that it was really cool to see how this equipment is being built and it gave us a little insight into the time and effort that gets put into getting the data needed for scientific research. We all got to control a small robot that is able to record and pick things up underwater in a freshwater tank. It was fascinating that even this complex machine had what looked like a somewhat average video game controller to maneuver it. Then we went to the Marine Research Center, and learned more about how researchers get data on whales in the area by listening for them. We had a bit of free time once we got back to campus; I played some volleyball before helping with dinner. After dinner a bunch of us went to the beach to fish and hang out before ending the day with ice cream.

Madeleine Elias