By Isaac Santner, Onboard Educator
Heave-Away! Haul-Away! Everyone helps raise the Mainsail during our Educator Sail out of Kingston.
Last week we had our first of two “Educator Sails” during one of the most beautiful weeks for sailing that I can remember. The wind and temperature combined for a perfect evening of smooth sailing. Our educator sails are relatively new; they allow us to bring teachers out onboard for an afternoon or evening of relaxing sailing, casual learning, and to experience Clearwater’s particular style of interactive learning.
Issac Santner, Onboard Educator, reviews a map of the Hudson River with our guest educators at the “Navigation Station”
Teaching teachers is always a fun experience and we had so many passengers onboard who have engaged in our education program before. I noticed that many experienced teachers offered up their own input and knowledge, while learning a little bit about the Hudson and its amazing educational potential. I noticed one teacher very concentrated on our “Macroinvertibrate Hudson River Life” station, sifting carefully through a tray full of pond scum. She eventually found a great deal of isopods, and showed them to some of the other teachers.
Educators who are engaged in our program and who experience the experiential education sails for themselves are far more likely to bring their class out on the river. On this beautiful night sailing out of the historic Kingston Rondout, I am confident that many teachers will bring their students out to enjoy some of what they experienced. I am happy whenever we get a group of people out to experience the River in a new way, but even more so when a sail has the potential to reach even more Hudson Valley residents and keeps spreading the word!
Interns Adam (center) and Sammy (rt) help crew with the sails.
Our education interns and our apprentices are all at their time of departure from the program and now experts at the specific learning stations that they taught that evening. I want to use this blog to say goodbye to our Education Interns for the Summer, Sammy and Adam. Both worked incredibly hard throughout the summer, and provided an amazing energy for the whole crew community. We couldn’t run our programs without them, and they both ran their own sails which went very smoothly. I suspect that we will see them back onboard one day soon.
Sammy re-wrote our Climate Change station, which we hope to unveil later on in September. Adam is constructing a couple of “Eel Mops” for us to put out along our docks. For more information on the Eel Mops, and Eels in general, as well as the Hudson River Eel Project, check out http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/remediation_hudson_pdf/hudsoneelreport.pdf.
We look forward to the fall sailing season and kicking off the new school year with new crew, volunteers, apprentices, and interns. Please check out our Public Sail Schedule, and our other fall sailing opportunities and join us for a sail!
