By Anisa, Orrin, Isabelle, and Violet

The 8am breakfast slowly transitioned into project worktime, and soon we were deep into it—three hours of focus with varying degrees of confidence and success. We kept moving forward, cutting down or building up our data, depending on where we were in our projects. Many of us ran into struggles: some trying to make graphs, others trying to fit too many into their presentations. Nonetheless, we persisted. The time flew by, with Adam, Maya, and Riley offering support and helpful feedback on what to adjust and what to keep. Before we knew it, lunch had snuck up on us, and people began eating and frantically plugging in their inevitably dying laptops.

After lunch came our “brain break,” which was announced as the English camp hike—something we had missed earlier in the week due to fatigue. It was advertised as a short, one-mile walk up a small hill. But I don’t know what mountain-loving giant considered that hill “small,”. By the time we reached the top, everyone was drenched in sweat and gasping for air. A few unfortunate souls hadn’t changed out of their pajama pants and deeply regretted that decision. The misinformation led many astray, and legs were on fire long before the top. But once we made it, we were greeted with an incredible view—and for at least some of us, it was definitely worth the struggle.

After a short downhill walk, we loaded back into the vans and returned to the dorms. Once there, it was time to jump back into our projects—crunch time had officially begun, and many people were in the final stretch. About an hour and a half later, we shifted gears to start our jobs and prepare for our evening guest: Khrista Nicholas, a RED student from the University of Miami who is now an incoming master’s student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

After a delicious dinner of fried rice, we all enjoyed hearing about Khrista’s path thought college and her current topic of study. She had a beautiful presentation with photos detailing her fascinating and incredible journey. Following our guest we all gathered to have a joint movie night, relaxing while watching Finding Nemo with ice cream.

By Anisa, Orrin, Isabelle, and Violet

Ringing met us as we awoke to start a new day. Many alarms and sleepy faces rose from bed covers as everyone headed down for a horribly early 7am breakfast with 30 minutes until the vans needed to be loaded. Today, we headed to Orcas Island via the ferry for some much-needed R&R after many hours of project work time (some having more fun than others). It was an interesting morning that led into an amazing day hiking, eating, and swimming.

First, we loaded into the vans to drive onto the ferry; this was followed by around an hour in the van and then even more time in the ferry, where 3 stops were made. Although that might sound unfortunate, the time was spent quite peacefully; some people worked on puzzles while others chatted, looking at the view. We even saw some baby seagulls and a harbor seal!

After taking a tour of the islands, we arrived at our destination for the day: Orcas Island. A wonderful small town with major beach vibes greeted us while we drove through town for our next activity. This activity consisted of a short hike around the only known salmon spawning location in the San Juan Islands. The water looked gorgeous and the hike was very pleasant with the forest surrounding us and nothing but lunch and swimming to look forward to.

Speaking of lunch, after the hike, we made our way back to the vans and made our way to one of the most beautiful views on the island: Mount Constitution. A windy road later, we were at the mountains’ summit and the highest point in all of the islands. We ate lunch quickly while bald eagles and hawks flew around and above us. Then, we prepared for the highlight of the whole day. It was time to swim.

We arrived at one of Orcas Islands many lakes. After some inflating of paddle boards, complaining about cold water and splashing around in the water we headed to our final location. Some of us headed around the lake on foot (with some having better visibility than others) while others paddled to the location. No matter how we got there we all arrived at a bridge which spanned the lake. We wasted no time, we put our stuff down, ran to the bridge, climbed to the edge and JUMPED!. Laughter and the splash of water could be heard from all of us. We spent the time exploring the area, swimming and jumping from the bridge. The travel back to the vans was no less chaotic. How do four people on one paddleboard get across a lake is a question that has now been answered: slowly but surely, with a lot of flailing about.

After a long, fun day we were all ready to head back the Friday Harbor. The ferry ride back was entertaining as the first one with plenty of puzzles and gorgeous views to admire. The day ended with a great dinner and relaxing free time.

By Anisa Singh, Orrin, Isabelle, and Violet

Saturday, oh Saturday, how I love you so… (hopefully)

We all woke up this morning with bright plans in mind, as today was set to be a chill day. Many of us had stayed up late watching movies and playing cards—some even played games until the wee hours of the morning. So, when a few of us slept through our alarms, it was hardly a surprise. A groggy start eventually gave way to a calm morning, followed by some productive project work and a trip to survey data on pigeon guillemots at the Friday Harbor Dock.

Six of us joined this outing, eager to dive deeper into behavioral science and explore how field scientists collect data. One of our goals was to gather information for our upcoming poster projects. For others, it was a chance to see whether a project about pigeon guillemots was the right fit for them.

After a couple of hours of research and work, it was time for lunch. We packed into the van and headed to Deadman’s Beach, where we enjoyed our meals with a stunning ocean view. Afterward, we went tidepooling and discovered all sorts of marine wonders—giant nudibranchs, huge chitons, colorful sea stars, countless crabs, and many other breathtaking organisms.

On the way back, the next thing on the schedule was something mysteriously titled “Structured Recreational Time.” This, understandably, raised many questions and even a little apprehension, which were voiced repeatedly to our van driver, Maya. Upon returning, we learned what it really meant. Though some of us expected an afternoon wandering through a sculpture park–which didn’t exactly spark a ton of exitement–we were happily surprised to find out we were going back to Roche Harbor (the same place we visited earlier for kayaking).

There, many of us grabbed ice cream, wandered through the harbor shops, and enjoyed the lively energy of the area—including a very loud live band playing for passing pedestrians.

After exploring for about an hour, we returned to the dorms to check in, prep dinner, and enjoy some free time. Soon, we were seated around the dinner table with plates of fried rice, joined by Dr. Anna Shcherbina, an immunologist who is now focused on molecular biology.

After dinner, we dove into a learning session focused on the intersection between marine biology and immunology while discussing how different scientific fields can play very different yet vital roles in various aspects of biology.

With our heads full of new knowledge and inspiration, we split off for nighttime activities—some continued card games, others watched movies (like Maze Runner), and a few people crushed their friends in intense chess matches. Excited for the next day, we eventually wound down and drifted off to sleep.