Into the danger zone: Maritime Education teaches ecology and endurance
Into the danger zone: Maritime Education teaches ecology and endurance
by Phoebe Martel
The cloudy, churning ravine between the dock and the brick pier was, to one Mount Royal third-grader, an abyss that she did not want to traverse. After five hours of dissecting oysters, recreating Battle of Baltimore blueprints and weathering a push-pull between overcast chill and tropical splendor, the last few steps of her voyage were simply insurmountable.
The dockside view of the Mildred Belle
Yet Captain Tim of the Living Classrooms Foundation’s historic buyboat, the Mildred Belle, is accustomed to paralysis and phobias. “I’m almost as old as the War of 1812,” he quipped, “and I haven’t died from this height yet! You don’t want to have to stay back with me, do you?” He then wheeled out a wooden gangplank from which the intrepid eight-year-old felt secure enough to disembark, with only minimal support from deckhand Colin.
This emphasis on resilience, self-empowerment, and learning-by-doing, all with a light touch of humor, characterizes LCF’s Maritime Education programming. President and CEO James Piper Bond and founder Dennis O’ Brien inaugurated LCF in 1992 with the underpinnings of an experiential learning project in which inner-city youth constructed a historic Chesapeake pungy schooner, the Lady Maryland.
As the Foundation has expanded into occupational skills training; out-of-school time curriculums; the Crossroads Charter School operation; and gun violence prevention, Maritime Education has remained a cornerstone of its mission. Its exemplary full-day sailing trips primarily provide programming for K-12 students from the Target Investment Zone (2.5 square mile, historically Black and Brown East Baltimore corridor towards which its anti-poverty efforts are directed). Both day and overnight programs are also utilized by schools and community organizations throughout Maryland and neighboring states.
“What I like about sailing for Living Classrooms is that it’s a chance to use the outdoors as a classroom, which can be just as valuable as academic spaces,” remarks Lee, an educator for the Mildred Belle whose background is in marine biology, sailing for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, and early childhood education.
Kids learn the basics of buoyancy through a tin foil shipbuilding workshop.
“And within that space, our whole crew, from the deckhands to the captain, have different areas of expertise we can use to teach these kids, from zooplankton ecology and maritime history,” adds mate Madison, a graduate of The Coastal and Ocean Studies Program of Williams College who puts her nautical knowledge to use through a station in which participants construct model cargo ships to learn about buoyancy.
On the Sigsbee, a refurbished skipjack that dredged oysters for sale to the Mildred Belle in the Baltimore tall ships’ twentieth-century heyday, Captain Peter addresses a rapt crew of Glenelg Country School sixth graders as intern Weston prepares a trawl net on the port side for a catch-and-release fishing station.
“In our lives, we all receive a lump sum of luck that you use up as you get more experience in life. Mason, you look like you have a lot of luck, you can donate to us so we catch as many whitefish as possible.”
The chosen four-foot well of fortune springs up from his seat on a cooler, crossing to the starboard side, which is dubbed the “danger zone” due to its proximity to the boom. “Now, Mason’s going to have to step in the danger zone to activate his luck,'' Peter continues. “Then, once we have our catch, he can step back into the ‘safe harbor.’ And with this directive, Mason chucks a burnt-orange float into the Patapsco and, with a stroke of good fortune and the guidance of the crew, he’s reeled in a shoal that would make any historic Sigsbee sailor proud.
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