PORTSMOUTH — As a freshman in high school, few people expect you to know what you want to do for the rest of your life, not do they expect you to immediately pursue your interests.

Things are a little different, however, at the East Bay Met School in Newport, where a large amount of learning comes through internships. Students start exploring their future potential career interests as freshmen, and some can be stubborn about it.

Met senior Quinn Dorchies of Portsmouth came to the school determined to work with animals. He wanted to do nothing else and was set on the idea of playing with tigers all day.

In his sophomore year, however, his teacher took him and the rest of the class on a sailing trip. From that point on, Quinn developed a love for boats and sailing, saying he’s “interested in how they work.”

Quinn later went on to participate in sailing classes offered by the school with Sail Newport, and he created a senior thesis project about the evolution of sailboats. He’s currently working on the ship, Oliver Hazard Perry (OHP), a training vessel for young sailors that’s docked at the Hinckley Boat Yard in Portsmouth.

The boat was originally designed to be a replica of the British ship HMS Detroit (1812), but was then brought to Newport and renamed Oliver Hazard Perry after the 1812 war hero.

Quinn started working on OHP by doing tedious tasks such as sanding 30 to 40 small boat parts, which he said took an hour each. He eventually was able to climb aboard the ship and start doing work on deck.

Quinn goes to his internship on OHP only once a week, compared to most Met students who go to the same internship twice a week. However, he says puts in enough work to make it the equivalent of two days.

Since starting his internship, Quinn’s gained a vast knowledge of the ship and has been trained in tying special knots.

During his collimating event for his senior project last Thursday, he took a group of people on the boat and shared information on the boat’s history during a thorough tour. Visitors even watched Quinn in action when someone on the boat asked for his help in adjusting lines.

When the boat is able to set sail again, it will be used as a teaching vessel and will have an onboard biologist.

While the experience as a whole was a great for Quinn, he says that his favorite part was being able to climb on the beams and work on the boat.

“It’s been a great opportunity. I don’t think I could have had a better internship than this,” Quinn said.

Tatyana Frost, a freshman at the East Bay Met School in Newport, is interning at The Portsmouth Times.