University of Oregon

Student Voices: Invertebrate Zoology (summer)

Invert zoo1During the summer of 2014, I thought I would take a big chunk of my upper division classes by taking 18 credits in 8 weeks at OIMB in Charleston, OR. At the time I was a lost Biology student who had a love for animals but not much direction. The first day I attended a brief introduction in the ocean front auditorium overlooking the bay where I later went crabbing as part of my invertebrate zoology class. The entire campus is right across the street from a harbor. I wake up every morning to a view of the beach out my bedroom window. In Invertebrate Zoology, we got to wake up with the tides to collect invertebrate specimens, which we brought back to the classroom and added to our salt water tables and tanks. One morning we were transported on a zodiak across the bay to mud flats just to look for a specific type of sea cucumber and ended up finding the cutest baby octopus! My summer at OIMB was the best 18 credits of schooling I have had so far in my collegiate experience.

-Keely Hassett

squid dissection