By Jessica Dunn
On May 13, 2024 students from University High School of Science & Engineering and Marine Science Magnet High School attended the annual UConn ECE Marine Science Symposium on the UConn Avery Point campus. Dr. 
Claudia Koerting, UConn ECE Marine Science Faculty Coordinator, organized and led the event as she has for the past 10 years with the goal of extending student learning outside of the classroom and building relationships between students, instructors, and UConn faculty. This end-of-year event celebrates the academic achievements of the students throughout their UConn Marine Sciences courses taken through UConn ECE and exposes them to the UConn Avery Point faculty and facilities.
Although this year there was less representation from high schools across the state than we have had in the past, we had an extremely scholarly group of students who were able to experience an intimate and interactive day. In the morning session, the students presented their yearlong research and scientific findings to their peers and UConn faculty in oral and poster presentations, heard from graduate students on their per
sonal research and life as a UConn student, and then took to the campus in the afternoon to explore.
In their ventures around the Avery Point campus, students went to the docks where they pulled up submerged lines colonized by local marine invertebrates. While examining the lines, they found animals such as mussels, sea squirts, tiny crabs, sponges, and shrimp all tucked into the seaweed. They went to the tidal pools where they discovered it to be dominated by the seaweed, Enteromorpha. To a passerby, the Enteromorpha may just look like green slime, but the students learned it is more than that and supports healthy barnacle and snail populations. To conclude their exploration, students toured the UConn research vessel, the R/V Connecticut, and then returned to the campus buildings where they were able to get up close to equipment scientists deploy on buoys and from the research vessel to get important oceanographic data.
We congratulate all students on their hard work and dedication this year and thank them for participating in the UConn ECE Marine Science Symposium.