Introduction-Katie McKay

Hello! My name is Katie McKay. I know the picture I included isn't a very good or clear one of my face but it pretty much accurately illustrates what I like to do in my spare time which is explore different places here in the PNW (this is over on the Olympic Peninsula at Fort Townsend State Park). Anyways, I took this Marine Biology class because I am planning on majoring in Environmental Science when I transfer to a university and needed more elective classes to receive my AA so I'm trying to take at least one science class a quarter for my remaining quarters at EDCC. I have to take a full load of classes over the summer so I'm really glad Gwen told me that Katie (the instructor, not me) is teaching a biology class over the summer! As you can see I get off topic easily. I would like to learn more about how different organisms interact with each other within marine ecosystems. I already touched on my major and career goal, I would like to go into studying Environmental Science and I'm not one hundred percent sure where I want to take my career path from there. There are many different things I could end up doing with a degree like that and I'm excited to explore my options when I get there. I don't have much experience with marine systems other than poking around in tide pools during my growing up next to edmonds beaches. I have also grown up going to my family's cabin on the Washington coast about 30-40 minutes north of Ocean Shores. I always enjoyed the drastic differences between the Puget Sound beaches and the costal beaches. I would say my top two favorite marine organisms are the sea anemones (because they're squishy and colorful) and the sea cucumbers (because it's name always cracked me up as a child). I also like sea slugs and sea snails. I would love to learn more about all these creatures and maybe learn what their actual names are! Something interesting about myself is that I once became stranded in a European country with no money and somehow survived until my trip home, so I guess I'm really good at improvising and getting myself out of sticky situations! (I thought I'd share something other than what I shared in class to keep things more interesting)