Eleonor H., CWSF’24

As one of our overnight trips, CWS went to the Virginia Institute of Marine Science in Wachapreague, Virginia. We stayed in their dorms, and had access to their professional-grade lab. Almost every day that we were there, we had the opportunity to go out on the water and explore the nearby barrier islands, a nearby oyster reef, and many of the areas’ streams and natural waterways. At night, we were allowed into the lab and given access to a tank to keep any organisms that we found, and we had access to microscopes so that we could draw some of the critters. 

My favorite part of the whole week was either getting to walk on top of the oyster reef, and finding live whelks eating the oysters around me, or sitting in the lab at night and drawing the organisms. I normally don’t consider myself a good artist (at least not at drawing and painting), but I had a super fun time and I think that I did really well with my depictions. It was a fascinating experience, and I truly learned so much.