There was never any doubt that Marine Biology minor and Oceanography major Drew McWhirter loved the ocean. While living on Oahu for three years in middle school, he surfed, paddled canoes, snorkeled, played water polo and was a junior lifeguard. While he always wanted to learn how to dive, it wasn’t until he got into the colder waters of the Pacific Northwest that he decided to get started. 

At the beginning of her sophomore year, Alex Ulmke had no idea what to major in. She had grown up visiting her grandparents’ house on a Florida inlet with manatees swimming by, and she wanted to become a marine biologist to save them. During her freshman year at UW, she took study breaks to watch documentaries about whales. After taking a course from a UW professor who was researching whales and the Endangered Species Act, she figured out she could tailor her UW education to her fascination with marine mammal conservation.