The clink of scalpels lingered in the air as members of Anatomy & Dissection Club convened before school to dissect rabbits at their final meeting of the year on Friday, April 17, in club sponsor Eric Scheiber’s room.

The rabbit is the biggest specimen the club has dissected since its launch in 2020. The rabbit’s mammalian body system poses challenges for members as they are faced with larger organs — like the intestines and heart — compared to previous specimens. At this meeting, the officers directed members through opening the specimen to isolate its heart.

“We chose to do [the rabbit] so we can get an insight of what a bigger organism looks like compared to smaller organisms or the organs we’ve done throughout the year,” Anatomy & Dissection Club President Ava Fakhar ‘26 said. “We’ve actually never done the rabbit in Anatomy & Dissection ever. We’re just ending it off on a good note.”

A change from previous dissections of specimens that lacked fur, members were required to  strip the rabbit of its fur before cutting open the skin and locating the heart. With the strict 30-minute time limit for the dissection, cutting cleanly to examine the heart was difficult and required navigating through various organ systems.

Over the course of the year’s dissections, club officers increased the size of each meeting’s assigned specimen, with the rabbit finishing off the year. Regular club members grew as the club progressed, honing their skills with the scalpel as the rigor of dissections grew.

“Past dissections were really small, like [in] the salamander, they were all babies,” Murahari said. “This one was really big. It was also time management. You only have so much time, so you still want to hit all the important parts of the body.”

As officers handle surveying vendors and specimen prices, Mr. Scheiber receives communication about estimated prices. As a teacher for Medical Interventions, Mr. Scheiber’s knowledge of common specimens dissected within the Biomedical Sciences pathway allowed  him to guide the officers in picking different specimens. The officer team’s goal was to avoid dissecting overlapping specimens with other classes to give members a well-rounded experience; the rabbit was a prime example of a unique specimen for budding scientists.

“[The rabbit] is a small mammal, but it’s a larger mammal specimen compared to others we have dissected in the past,” Mr. Scheiber said. “It has very similar body systems to humans, and at this point, most of our club members have seen these organs [and] these structures. They know how to do the cutting, the precision, all that, so they’re really showcasing their skillset even though the instructions may be more limited and not available.”

As the final dissection of the school year, this meeting prompted reflection on the club’s journey throughout the year and as a whole from senior officers. Officers ramped up the complexity of the species every meeting, kicking the year off with iguanas and ending with rabbits. Halfway through the year, officers invited members to participate in a mixed dissection, allowing freedom to choose the specimen they would be most interested in. 

“We used the same process,” Fakhar said. “We ordered off of a website called Carolina [Biological Supply Co]. It’s the same process [of] where we find it. We send it to Mr. Scheiber, and then he sends it to the bookkeeper.”

The club’s focus on directing student growth in dissections this year was a step up from previous years, setting a precedent that Fakhar hopes officers continue in the years to come.

“We’ve definitely become more organized and put-together,” Fakhar said. “I hope the club evolves, just like it has been. I’m definitely going to miss it, but I have strong hope that all the officers will be able to carry it on, just like we have.”