World Photo by Lou Sennick

How big is an orca? The 122 students at Lighthouse Charter School in Hauser found out from representatives of the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport.

The aquarium brought its whale program to the school to educate the students on the marine animals through an outreach program. Chris Schmitz, standing at the inflatable whale's nose, said the program travels around Oregon 15 weeks each year, bringing various marine programs to schools. Besides the program for kindergarten through fifth grades, there are activities for students in math and vocabulary as well as science. Helping out Schmitz during the program Wednesday were volunteers John Murphy and Diana Bunch. The inflatable orca they brought fills the front of the room.