ORCA students dive deep into marine science

On the first day of class, the school was empty.

No books. No labs. No lecture.

Instead, the faculty and their students were on a beach near Deception Pass State Park.

The 90 students from Ocean Research College Academy gathered scientific data about the Salish Sea ecosystem. Up at sunrise and unperturbed by rain, they examined sea stars before the tide came in and tracked porpoises feeding in the changing currents offshore. In their analysis, students hypothesized about what the data might mean.