Luke Garbin

Ms. Williams
January 18, 2017
Honors Biology 10
Our class is heading on a field trip today, January 18, 2017. We will be departing

Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic high school at 8:30, heading inside of a real life cell! I and my

classmates are eager to learn what each organelle does, what they look like, and where each

organelle is located inside of the cell. Along with my whole class, my teacher Ms. Williams, and

class lizard Finnick will moderate us students. This is a first time experience for everyone going

on the field trip, so it will surely be an exciting trip.

It was an extremely fun bus ride on the magical shrinking bus to get to the inside of the

cell. Its always a cool experience when getting to ride in a shrinking bus that can move around,

and get into small spaces where we are now. However, now we are now looking at the highlight

of the trip, a real animal cell. The things we will see today in the cell will be cell membrane,

nucleus, Golgi apparatus, mitochondria, lysosome, ribosomes, cytoplasm, etc. Our class has

defiantly heard about all of these organelles, but it is a whole different reality when seeing them

up close. It can help people understand the organelles more, which is a reason why we took the

class field trip. We now are beginning to get off the bus and begin our trip. We first get to the

cell membrane. It is on the most outer part of the cell. Ms. Williams tells us that, A cell

membrane goes around the entire cell, and it controls what enters and leaves the cell. Our class

already learned this, but she just wanted it to be fresh in our minds. In my opinion I think the

cell membrane looks like a long strip of soft material that wraps around the entire cell. The cell

membrane is the controlling factor of how the whole cell acts. Our class will now head past the

cell membrane, deeper into the plant cell. We are now going to visit the Mitochondria. Wow,
states Anthony when he sees the size and structure of the mitochondria organelle. The

mitochondria of course is positioned right past the cell membrane in a cell. I remember the

function of it, telling my classmates that do not remember it, The function of mitochondria is to

break down sugar to then release energy. We will see how this energy is used later in are

journey I think my classmates and I compare its shape to an oval, with lines on it. Again it is just

very cool to see the actual organelle up close compared to just seeing a picture of it online. After

seeing what breaks down sugar, our class now is now going to see the Golgi apparatus. The

Golgi apparatus is right near the mitochondria, so it will not take too long for us to get there. I

see Finnick on our way there, and smile at him because he is moving around and looking like he

is having a good time. We are now at the Golgi apparatus organelle. In my own thoughts, it

looks like it is a jelly like substance on the inside of the organelle. Ms. Williams while holding

Finnick tells us that, The Golgi apparatus is a system of folded membranes, and it modifies,

sorts, repackages proteins or lipids, and sends them to their final destination. My classmates

and I see this with being able to locate the lipids. We are now going to make the walk from the

Golgi apparatus to the lysosomes.

After about a 5 minute walk (wow cells are big), the class is now here looking at the

lysosomes. I ask Sam the function of the lysosome, which I forgot about. Sam tells me, It is

similar to a garbage truck, it breaks down all the waste that is in the cell. That function pops now

does pop into my head. My classmates and I then make the observation that some stray

ribosomes are. Ribosomes are the things that makes proteins, and they do not contain a

membrane. I tell Anthony. Anthony then makes a good observation saying, Why are

ribosomes the so small compared to the other organelles we already saw? I have no clue what

the answer is, and so does nobody else. Ms. Williams says, Ribosomes can both be big or
small, they are not always the same size. This makes sense to me and the rest of the class. Again

we see a close organelle near the previous one we were looking at, and I think it is the rough

endoplasmic reticulum. Some classmates then remind that, This is the smooth endoplasmic

reticulum because there are no ribosomes. I feel so stupid now not knowing that. This

organelle is the widest one we have seen yet, stretching about two times more wide then the next

longer organelle. Justin tells our class that, Smooth endoplasmic reticulum packages lipids to

then send to the Golgi apparatus, where we visited earlier. This makes sense to me because I

remember seeing stuff inside of the Golgi apparatus, which might contain lipids. We are now

making our way right past the smooth endoplasmic reticulum, to its sidekick the rough

endoplasmic reticulum. This is the one that has ribosomes, I tell my classmates. I also tell my

classmates, It is pretty much has the same function as the smooth endoplasmic reticulum, except

it sends proteins instead of lipids to the Golgi apparatus. Everyone in the class then says That is

what ribosomes make, proteins. The rough endoplasmic reticulum was again very wide like the

organelle beside it. Now is the real show, inside the nucleus, Ms. Williams says. However,

before we go look at the nucleus Ms. Williams asks, What two things are we walking in right

now that you cannot see with your eyes. Dino excitingly answers with, The cytoplasm and the

cytoskeleton. Dino continues saying, The cytoplasm is the jelly like substance throughout the

inside of the cell which our class is walking on right now, the cytoskeleton protects the cell fully,

giving the cell a structure like a skeleton. I think it kind of feels cool walking on a jelly like

substance that you would not in everyday life. Before we go look at the Nucleus, are class

decides to go eat our lunches that we packed and brought with us.

I ate lunch near Finnick, playing with him throughout the lunch time keeping me

company. Now we get up, and right ahead of us lies the most important part of this whole
animal cell. Which is the nucleus and the nucleolus. We enter the nucleus through the cell

membrane. Ms. Williams asks, Raise your hand if you know what the nucleus stores? Victoria

raises her hands answering It stores the DNA. Ms. Williams says she is correct. Nick and I

then think not only is this the most important organelle, but the biggest too. We both thought this

was pretty cool. Our class is now at the nucleolus, which is inside of the nucleus. Ms. Williams

tells us, The nucleolus is where ribosomes are made. After that statement, I hear Jordan say

the smartest thing I have heard on this whole field trip. He says, There is a connection between

proteins, ribosomes, nucleolus, and rough endoplasmic reticulum. The proteins is the product,

the ribosomes make the product, the nucleolus makes the product that makes the product, and the

rough endoplasmic reticulum stores the product. This thought process really helps me

understand the connection between these 4 organelles a little more. We take one last glimpse of

the nucleus, and we start walking back to the bus. Before that though, Ms. Williams remembers

to show us two final organelles called the vacuole and vesicle. Ms. Williams tells us that all we

need to know is, Vacuole stores water and nutrients, and vesicle function is small

membrane bound sacs that help to transport stuff around the cells. I do

make a connection that they both have the same shape. We are now

heading back to the magic school bus, and head back to Cardinal Wuerl

North Catholic high school.

Once our class gets back to the school, I tell my friends that did not

attend how great the trip was, and how much you can learn from seeing a

real life experience. Our class can go anywhere when taking the magic

school bus with us!