On Thursday, January 10, 2018 the Marine Bio students visited the Monterrey Bay Aquarium. Lincoln Lion Tales interviewed Michelle Bennett, the Marine Bio teacher, to find out a bit more about the field trip.

Between 80 to 140 students attended, and the Marine Bio students are the only ones that attend. For this trip they used 2 buses. Ms. Bennett stated that this trip is annual and has been going on for 11+ years.

She also said that she decided to keep the tradition to take the students to the aquarium because it is a great tie-in as far as what the class has covered, which is environmental issues. The trip gives the students the hands on experience to see the different marine life they talk about. This helps the students remember what they have talked about in class.

The purpose behind the trip is that it touches bases on different conservation issues. The students make connections with marine science careers and students can volunteer in any aquarium or museum that has marine life. The purpose is to have students touch different marine life that is talked about in class and that they don’t have access to. They also see and learn about the natural history about the marine life.

Some Marine Bio students were interviewed to find out about their experiences. One of the students that was interviewed was Paloma Garcia, a senior at Lincoln. Before arriving she expected to be able to feel the marine life. In this field trip, she learned about the different types of trackers that researchers use to track the sharks’ mating cycle. She most enjoyed interacting with peers that have the same perspective of the marine life as her, which is that humans should value the marine life more.

Another senior that was interviewed was Andres Rojas. He stated that his expectations for the trip was to learn more about the marine life and how they mate. He learned that the shells of some marine animals can help them survive an attack from a predator. To him, he had the most fun being in the coast and learning about the different types of marine life.

The last marine bio student that was interviewed was Valeria De La Torre. In this trip her expectations were met because she had the hands on experience she wanted. She learned that larger sized female sharks travel to deserted parts of the ocean to find a mate and then abandon their pups. She had fun eating at Bubba Gump with her class and friends.

At the end of Ms. Bennett’s final thought was that this trip is a wonderful opportunity because the aquarium lets Lincoln’s Marine Bio classes go to a world-class aquarium for free and, also, enjoy the coast.