LOS ANGELES — Excitement reigned in Ms. Rikki Lee Marzan’s marine biology class at King/Drew Magnet High School of Medicine and Science in South Los Angeles.

While students joined the class from land, Marzan joined virtually from the depths of the Pacific Ocean.

She was aboard the E/V Nautilus ship for the Ocean Exploration Trust’s NA181 expedition, funded by NOAA Ocean Exploration.

A team of scientists, students and educators are exploring some of the most remote areas of the Pacific Ocean around Wake Island, which is a few thousand miles west of Honolulu.

“I’ve been more interested in, like, the unknown, like prehistoric creatures, like the megalodon and certain animals like that,” said Justyce Becerra, a senior at King/Drew Magnet High School.

As a student interested in pursuing marine biology, Becerra was excited to learn her teacher would be part of the expedition. 

Marzan said she was introduced to Nautilus through her work with the Natural History Museum and became fascinated with those aboard the ship. It inspired her to apply and become one of this year’s Science Communication Fellows. She is spending 31 days aboard E/V Nautilus, bringing real-life science exploration into classrooms around the world, including her own.

“Not only these deep basins, but we’re finding seamounts and geodes and canyons and caverns and caves that we didn’t even know existed,” said Marzan, who is also the school’s science department chair. “That helps us understand we’re not only biology is going to be, but the history of the ocean.”

During class, Marzan also introduced students to ROV Hercules, the underwater robot helping researchers explore the ocean. 

King/Drew principal Reginald Brookens said the expedition is a great opportunity not only for Ms. Marzan but for the students as well.  

“I’m hoping that the students get an opportunity to experience something that they most likely would not have and then gain additional interest in, maybe something that a career that they may not have thought existed,” Brookens said.

That’s exactly the experience King/Drew senior Festus Nnadi got out of the class.

“What I learned today was like the internships with the ROV mechanics,” he said. “Since I’m interested in engineering and majoring in it, I was looking into it when I was in there. So, I was like, ‘I want to apply to it.’”

He said he never knew about ROV mechanics until Marzan told the class about it, and that’s one of Marzan’s goals.  

“I really hope just my students have this interest in research and just kind of discovering the world,” Marzan said.

Back in the classroom, Becerra said she enjoys knowing her teacher is helping make history. 

“I feel like that’s a lot of wisdom that we can gain, and maybe we can be the next generation to do that,” she said.

And Marzan said she’ll bring what she learns back to the classroom, even after the expedition ends.