UHP Goes to the Museum of Natural History with Prof. Hammond

The following blog post was written by UHP students Elizabeth Hasier and Anthony Livshen after a trip to the Museum of Natural History with Professor LaTisha Hammond’s HONR 1034 Marine Biology class.
We all sat around anxiously until finally, someone addressed the big elephant in the room. “That’s a really big elephant.” And it was. For we were at the Museum of Natural History exploring the depths of marine life. With Professor Hammond as our captain, our Marine Biology Honors class was tasked with discovering the hidden secrets of ancient aquatic life.
It was at times a tumultuous journey navigating the trilobites, crinoids, and the organisms of the Devonian Period. With all this knowledge of ocean life surrounding us, confusion started to creep in. For a moment things looked bleak, we didn’t know where to turn. But suddenly, out of the (ocean) blue, our knight in shining armor appeared. It was an elderly, wise man named Dave. Dave the Smithsonian Volunteer swooped in and bestowed us with his infinite knowledge of how ocean life began and the oxygenation of the sea. Eyes welling with tears of gratitude, we thanked our savior, now confident in our abilities to navigate on our own.
As the clock struck 12:50 we knew it was our time to leave (because class was over).
But in the deep seas of our hearts, we all knew that this would not be our last journey. And not just because it said so on the syllabus.
On our next dive at the Museum, the student expeditioners were split up into groups, each tasked with exploring a specific levels of the ocean. Out of all of the groups, we were given the most dangerous, yet exciting part of the ocean. Icy cold. Eternally black. Under crushing pressure. Yet life finds a way. This, my friends, is the deep sea. We gathered bounties of knowledge about chemosynthesis, seamounts, and beautiful creatures, such as the blobfish. Google it, it will change your life.
All hyperboles aside, our trips to the museum were pretty incredible. Getting out of the classroom and using the amazing educational resources that this city provides is something that not every GW student gets to experience. Thank you to Professor Hammond for being the coolest captain ever. We look forward to continuing our journey through the ocean blue with our upcoming visits to a local fish market and the National Aquarium.

Sea you later. We will shore-ly be back.