For some, the love of marine biology started at a young age, providing the opportunity to start pursing it earlier than college. This past summer, Nicki Kieda, senior, spent a month at the Dauphin Island Sea Laboratory in Alabama participating in a program where she, along with 29 other high school students, took courses regarding marine science, snorkeling, and field research. Throughout high school, Kieda has been deciding between two majors to study in college.

“It was between medicine and marine science, and I thought since I had this opportunity, I kind of wanted to see if this is something I want to pursue in the future,” Kieda said. “It was my deciding factor.”

Kieda returned to Lake Zurich at the end of her trip, confident in her decision that marine science is what she wants to pursue. She sees this trip to be beneficial not just because it helped her decision for the future, but also provided the students with an idea of what life would be like as marine biologists.

“It was really just to give kids the experience and a brief synopsis of what marine science is about and the different areas you can study. It just gives you a pretty good idea of the different fields that are out there,” Kieda said. “It was a lot of work and it was a lot of tough work. It’s not just field work you’d enjoy; it’s also sitting there and analyzing data you collected.”

The group collected samples of sand when going out on the boat to analyze what types of species were in it, but also took samples offshore, according to Kieda. One of the projects the students completed involved going out into the field to take pictures, or “samples” of plants in order for further classification. Besides doing fieldwork, the group participated in dissections while learning about marine life animals. The most memorable moment of the trip for Kieda was when the group dissected sharks, considering she wants to specialize in sharks as a marine biologist.

“My friend and I worked on the sharks so hard we got the jaw out. There was one [group’s shark] that was pregnant. Some of the people got to take home some of the baby sharks,” Kieda said. “I took home part of the jaw my friend and I cut out. We put [the jaw outside] and let the ants eat off the flesh so it was just the cartilage [left]. Some of the people put the baby sharks in these alcohol containers and brought them home with them.”

Along with the jaw as a memento from her time in Alabama, Kieda has the close friendships she developed and still keeps in touch with the other students. Overall, her experience left an impact on her.

“It is definitely an eyeopener for those who aren’t sure if they want to go into marine science or not,” Kieda said. “It will give you a basic idea [that marine science is] not necessarily all diving, swimming, and just having fun like everyone thinks it is, but also the analytical side.”