“I got to start this quarter at SFEG by joining the students of “Salmon in the Classroom” in kicking off the first steps of life for their salmon. I got to spend 3 days driving between the Marblemount hatchery and various schools in Skagit County. We started off each day picking up 400-600 salmon eggs, and then we would travel down to visit 2-3 schools a day and deliver the eggs to the pre-set up tanks. Once we arrived, we would guide the students on how to place their new eggs in their tanks. While they were placing the eggs in the tank we encouraged them to think of names that they would later give the salmon when we release them in March. All the students were very excited to participate and asked us fun questions about the eggs, or made interesting observations like “the eggs look like Orbeez”. Before this experience I’d never seen an eyed salmon egg up close, nor held one and they do indeed look like little Orbeez. It was quite surprising how durable they were. I look forward to joining the students as they watch their eggs as they hatch into alevin and grow into fry, as well as releasing them and sending them on their big journey of surviving in the wild.” Photos show salmon eggs with visible eyes, one of the first steps of development.