Rising Mathews High School senior Ivan Schaible recently spent an afternoon gathering data about the Chesapeake Bay with a team of scientists from the National Geographic Explorers Club, and the experience just might have changed his life.

Club members were in Mathews last month to resurvey underwater sites visited and written about in the 1950s by the late Mathews explorer and boatbuilder Gilbert Klingel. Alongside famed undersea explorer Sylvia Earle, whose nonprofit Mission Blue co-sponsored the expedition, the team used advanced scientific methods and modern photographic equipment to identify species and document ecological conditions in waters off Gwynn’s Island.

One of the scientific methods the scientists employed is a test on environmental DNA, or DNA that is left behind in the water by whatever species occupy it. In order to do this, they needed samples from the water, and that was what Schaible spent much of the day doing after the team picked him up at the public landing at Hole in the Wall Waterfront Grill. Because he’s not scuba certified, he couldn’t join the dive team underwater, but he did get information on diver certification.

Team members taught Schaible how to collect samples properly and handle them. Meanwhile, Schaible had a chance to talk to the scientists about careers in marine science and ocean ecology. That learning experience has led him to consider changing his college major from aerospace engineering to marine engineering.

“I’m into mathematics, I like being out on the water, and I like the lab work involved in marine science,” said Schaible. “People tell me I shouldn’t wait to do what I love to do—I should find it and go ahead and do it.”

Schaible listed a string of skills that could come into play with a career in marine engineering, including using “lots of calculus” to deal with such issues as the pressure of water on structures, bridges, and offshore turbines, or working with submersible and boating technologies.

During his high school career, Schaible has enjoyed dividing his time between Mathews High School and the Chesapeake Bay Governor’s School for Marine and Environmental Science.

“It’s nice not being at one school all day,” he said.

As a MHS student, he has also been able to compete on the wrestling team, another one of his favorite activities. Wrestling as a middle weight wrestler for Mathews High School, Schaible has won third place in state competition for the past two years.

Now Schaible is in the process of looking at colleges that offer him a chance to do all of the things he loves—remain involved in mathematics, spend time on the water, wrestle competitively, and, perhaps most importantly, be near his family. One of the scientists suggested he look into the University of Maryland at Eastern Shore, and he’s now gotten “pretty invested” in that idea.

He said, pensively, “There are a lot of factors at play for my college choice.”

Schaible is the son of Josh Schaible and his wife Mallory of Hallieford.