Look away!

Wednesday's biology lesson was a little too much for Creek Valley sophomore Beth Westman as her class spent the morning dissecting and studying fetal pigs.

"I wish I wasn't doing it," 16-year-old Westman said, fighting back a grimace as her partner, Joey McConnell, made an incision along the belly of their specimen.

"Close your eyes, honey," McConnell, also 16, said after seeing her partner's reaction.

Science teacher Dave Howard said the fetal pig dissection is one of several that they perform in Creek Valley High School's biology class.

"We started with a worm, then we went to a frog and now a pig," Howard said. "The next is a cow eye, and finally a group one with some birds."

Howard said biology is a required class for Creek Valley students, one that spans a couple of years.

"And after that, we will have Anatomy, where they will do dissections on a brain and will spend a lot of time on a larger fetal pig that has more definitive structures in it," he said.

"It's kind of a right of passage, I guess."

Westman had a hard time hiding her reluctance throughout the dissection, constantly looking the other way as her partner and teacher opened up the fetal pig.

"I think it's a little gross," she said.

McConnell saw the lesson differently.

"I actually kind of like it," she said. "Science is one of my strong suits."

"She does most of the work," Westman said.

McConnell said Westman handled the earlier dissections "a little bit better."

"The worm, I was fine," Westman said. "But the frog..."

"When Mr. Howard had to break the jaw, that's what made it surreal to her," McConnell said.

In the next dissection, the students will be working with cow eyes. Westman said she was not looking forward to it.

"I'm not a fan," she said. "It's not my forte."

McConnell said she'd help her partner through the lesson, just as she's done in the previous dissections.

"We're the only girls in the class, so we have to help each other," she said.