On February 17th, Anatomy students took an exciting, engrossing, and disturbing trip to the Southern California University of Health Sciences. There were several cadavers lying around to be examined, different baby fetuses to be observed, and several parts of the Nervous System to be seen, including a human brain and spinal cord.

   Anatomy teacher, Mrs. Schenkelberg, talked about her experience this year versus past years, “The human body is fascinating and is such an amazing opportunity to get a hands-on experience with real specimens.  I’ve never been grossed out by the bodies, but I know some students in the past have gotten queasy.”

   The first station was about the male/female reproductive system. On the table there were placed several jars that had several samples of lifeless babies who had died at different stages of birth. Students got to hold a 5 month fetus baby whose mother had gotten an abortion.

   Next up was a body of a dead 78 year old man who died of cardiac arrest. Inside his body were black lungs, one smaller than the other, proving that he was a smoker. Everyone was thrilled to hold different organs of the man while experiencing a once-in-a lifetime chance to actually see how a human body looks from the inside.

   The last station was about the Nervous System, where a doctor let everyone to hold a human brain, a real spinal cord, eyeball, and examine a skull.

   Oyindamola Salako (11) commented on her experience, “The field trip was really awesome! Seeing the baby stages within the womb was interesting and the dead body was cool. The smell, not so much, but holding a human brain is something I’ll never forget.”  Some students were shocked to see the body from the inside or even get a glimpse of the babies, but thankfully nobody fainted.

  Another excited student, Jocelyn Avina (11), said “It was quite exciting at first until we stepped into the room it hit me. When I saw the cadaver and the smell all around really got to me. Over all it was a great experience and interesting to see the body inside and out!”   Other students felt nauseous and woozy from seeing dead bodies around. Anatomy students enjoyed the hands-on experience with the human body and cannot wait for their next trip in May.