Throughout the year, the Seaside Aquarium hosts a variety of groups for education purposes. Classrooms from Oregon and beyond, scout troops, and other groups visit the aquarium to learn about local sea life. But the aquarium also provides education beyond the boundaries of its walls. This can include research programs at a school or a unique in-the-field opportunity. This school year, students in both Astoria and Seaside were able to participate in real-world research in cooperation with the aquarium. In the fall, Astoria High School students dissected a number of sharks that washed ashore to provide information for researchers in California and Alaska. This winter, a class from Broadway Middle School in Seaside watched a dissection of a baby gray whale and then helped dispose of the body. Last summer a number of salmon sharks washed ashore on north Oregon beaches. Two researchers were interested in the phenomenon, so the aquarium enlisted Lee Cain’s salmon biology class in Astoria to help collect information on five of the sharks. Approximately fifteen students working in teams took a variety of measurements as well as tissue and spinal samples. The red and white muscle samples were sent to a researcher at Stanford. Spine segments were sent to the Alaska Fish and Wildlife Department. In January, when a baby gray whale washed ashore in Seaside, 7th grade students from Broadway Middle School were invited to participate in the dissection. Dr. Debbie Duffield, a professor from Portland State