When students can smell the preservative wafting down the hallways toward the beginning of May, they know cat dissections have begun.

On May 4, Human Anatomy and Physiology students chose their lab partners and which cat to dissect.

May 5 is when the actual dissection began. The lab will end on May 27.

All together, the dissection will last for 15 days, and the semester exam is completely over the lab.

HAP teacher, Mrs. Kandi Cousins, said the purpose of the dissection is to tie together everything that has been learned in the class.

Senior Marissa VanWoudenberg said she believes she could learn something better out of a book because she is nervous while dissecting.

However, she likes how the cat relates to human beings anatomically, and the information is useful for her education.