From February 21-23, 2025, IB and AP science students (especially us AP Environmental Science kids) took a trip to the Catalina Island Marine Institute at Toyon Bay, and honestly? Best decision ever. I was so excited to go this year because everyone always talks about how much fun it is, and for once, the hype was actually justified. This wasn’t just another school trip but rather three days of nonstop adventure, marine life, and a much-needed break from the harsh reality of junior year. AP Environmental Science students got to see their classroom lessons play out in real ecosystems, learning about marine life, conservation, and hands-on research in a way that felt way more real than a presentation. “The topics we learned on this trip aligned so well with what we’ve covered in APES,” said Mars Haffey, a junior taking both APES and AP Bio. “It was really cool to see everything come to life.”

The second we got there, we were in the water. Snorkeling became part of our daily routine, whether it was mid-afternoon or late at night when the water sparkled with bioluminescence. Of course, the hardest part wasn’t the swimming, it was squeezing into wetsuits, which was basically a workout on its own. 

One of the most fascinating parts of the trip was the shark lab, where we learned how sharks are unfairly demonized in media (calling out Jaws) and what conservationists are doing to protect them. We even got to pet some in the institute’s aquarium, where they rehab fish before releasing them back into the wild. Then there was the squid dissection, which also doubled as a murder mystery, with camp counselors dressed as detectives as we tried to figure out what took out our poor squid.

The food? It was…tolerable. But when you’re feeding over a hundred high schoolers and elementary schoolers, you can’t expect gourmet meals. The campfire, though, made up for it, and so did the endless inside jokes, laughter, and the forced detox from our phones and the internet that actually made us more present. The ferry ride to and from the island was stunning, but if you’re going next year, please bring a warm jacket unless you want to get hypothermia.

Even though we were only there for two full days, it felt like a week with how much we packed in. If I could do it all over again, I absolutely would. To anyone thinking about going next year—trust me, just go. It is worth it.