Getting Our Feet Wet

by Seth White, Biology Undergraduate

 

Walking around the rocky ocean shore in rubber boots, searching through tangles of seaweed in cold tidepools, and dodging incoming waves wasn't our idea of the first day of school. We wandered around channels and pools with damp sheets of paper, long lists of Latin names we were somehow to translate into types of seaweed.

" Not your typical first day of school"

"Has anyone found Endocladia muricata yet?" "I think it's the red, furry stuff on those barnacles." Some got wet when a sneaker wave washed over a tidepool. Some waded out past the tops of their boots, again. I slipped on seaweed on a sloping rock. Not your typical first day of school. Then again, for the 22 of us in the marine biology program at the Hatfield Marine Science Center, none of the days of spring term was typical. It became common to wring out our socks before class. No one thought twice if you walked into class in neoprene hip waders and a yellow raincoat, dripping seawater.

We were a damp mix of majors in biology, zoology, and environmental science, studying wet, salty things at the rocky intertidal areas around Newport, Oregon. We lived at the Marine Science Center, in apartments a stroll away from the Guin Library and Hatfield classrooms. Because of late nights reviewing lecture notes and early mornings searching beneath rocks for sea slugs, commuting was not an option.

The marine biology course is taught in seven sections: marine algae; marine invertebrates; community ecology; conservation biology; fish; marine physiology; and marine birds and mammals. Each is taught by a different instructor. Grad students were there to help, almost around the clock.

Living and studying together was sure-fire way to create bonds. We relied on each other to clarify algal life cycles before an exam. We advised each other on a paper about conservation, "The Status of the Oceans," no less. We hammered on a neighbor's door before dinner: "Got any forks?"

By the end of the term, we were near-experts on the biology of rocky intertidal areas of Oregon. Those Latin names flowed from our tongues: "Please pass the Porphyra." The logic of marine life zonation became second nature. I set my watch to low tide.

"I strongly recommend . . . the chance to work with a small group of dedicated students and professors in an intensive, rewarding learning environment "

It was hard work, surrounded by others who were there because they had something invested. Standing out as an invaluable experience, the course reinforced my decision to pursue marine biology as a career. I strongly recommend this program: the chance to work with a small group of dedicated students and professors in an intensive, rewarding learning environment was worth the effort. But under a few conditions: you have to like a lot of time at the ocean; you have to accept the long hours and hard work of science; and you have to get your feet wet.

 

Link to see how Seth White continued his education and research after earning his B.A., and what he now says about undergraduate research.