One of many students’ favorite science experiences in high school is doing a dissection. The science club, a new club this year, performed a sheep’s heart dissection on January 27. Girls from grades 7-11 attended the dissection. One of the club leaders, Cate Lynch ’24, said: “The dissection was a great way to get comfortable with dissecting animals without all the pressure to learn. There was no hassle to identify what part of the heart you were seeing, and no stress to take notes while dissecting.” 

Cecilia Ashenuga, a sophomore who participated in the dissection, said: “I loved it. We named our heart Jean Kelly, and I have an emotional attachment to him.” Abbie Lindblad ‘24 also named her heart. “Our heart’s name was Harold. We thought he had cancer, but it turns out it was just dried blood clots. We still like to think it was cancer. He was also very thick. We had to cut sooo much fat off to be able to see the veins. We loved him though. Our parting was such a sad moment; we will always have good memories of him. RIP Harold 2022.” 

Mrs. Forsgard led the dissection, teaching everyone where to start cutting and which veins they were seeing. The sheep’s heart is very anatomically close to a human heart, so Mrs. Forsgard made connections between the two. Once the heart was open, students were able to see ventricles, veins, valves, and atriums. The relationship between sheep and human hearts allowed for students to make connections to what is going on in their own body. The relaxed environment provided a fun experience, as well as a better understanding of anatomy. 

Leslie Baker ‘24, Clubs and Classes Co-Editor

24lbaker@montroseschool.org