MESA students explore a whole new world on Catalina

This summer 27 teens sailed to Catalina Island to learn about marine biology and have fun at the same time. For the sixth year, the MESA Center at USC organized a field trip to Catalina Island for middle and high school students. The trip was co-sponsored by USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering.

The students spent three days at the USC Wrigley Marine Science Center, a 14 acre complex that includes eight marine science labs, a hyperbaric oxygen chamber to treat decompression sickness (“the bends”), and dormitories. Catalina’s unique environment is an ideal natural laboratory for hands-on learning about science and the environment. There is a rich marine life—fiddler crabs, mud shrimp, ghost shrimp, two species of salamanders and three species of frogs—as well as unusual mammals—feral goats, pigs, fox and a rare species of shrew.

“These are city kids,” said Robin Jones, a science teacher at South Gate High School. “Most of these kids have never been to the beach, so this is an awesome experience for them. It’s a world they didn’t know existed.”

“This was a great opportunity for the students to get real hands experience in marine biology, ecology, and lab experiments,” said Larry Lim, the USC MESA director.

The students studied marine ecology at the shore and in the lab. They performed water sample experiments discovering and cataloging the microscopic organisms. As they glowed in the Petri dish, the bioluminescent plankton drew oohs and ahs from the teens. The young biologists also drew sketches of the organisms they observed.

In another experiment, the students measured the clarity of the water with a long rope marked every ten feet like a measuring tape. They dropped a disk that was tied to the rope over the side of a boat and determined the point at which they could no longer see the disk.

At the touch tanks, the students were introduced to a variety of sea life—sea cucumbers, anemones, spiny lobsters, limpets, drift kelp, sea stars and zebra-striped Goby fish. They were able to touch the creatures and to learn about their life cycles. The students also participated in a variety of recreational activities, including kayaking, snorkeling, and swimming.

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