22 juniors and seniors gathered with their families on Wednesday in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, to launch Proctor’s 33rd Ocean Classroom program.
Now in its third year with the Sea Education Association (SEA), Ocean Classroom embodies Proctor’s approach to experiential education. Welcoming participants, SEA President Dr. Rick Hopper highlighted that they will join a network of 13,000 alumni, the majority of whom do not continue in maritime careers but still cite their time with SEA as vital.
Outlining their curricula on Wednesday, three SEA faculty members used a range of approaches to engage parents and students. Students’ coursework will prove both synthetic among the disciplines and important to their development as mariners and scholars.
Nautical Seamanship, Navigation & Leadership
Captain Carl Herzog, who will lead the “Nautical Seamanship, Navigation & Leadership” course for its shore component, illustrated calculations of latitude and longitude, among other topics – vital for mariners seeking to fix their position offshore. Citing the “choreography of crew work” to make the ship move, something no individual can accomplish alone, Carl introduced the paradox of offshore sailing as feeling “immensely smaller and immensely larger at the same time.”
Introduction to Marine Science and Marine Science Research
Dr. Jeffrey Schell, who teaches “Introduction to Marine Science” and “Marine Science Research” during both shore and shipboard components, emphasized SEA’s half-century of data collection in pursuit of original oceanographic research. He promised participants that “We will know more about the ocean than we knew before” as a result of students’ work in his courses. In addition to gaining knowledge, students will spend the opening weeks ashore learning skills and techniques for analyzing marine life, “All in pursuit of you asking your own scientific research questions.”
He expressed particular enthusiasm for the planned course track, which will take students as working crew aboard the SSV Corwith Cramer from New England’s coast East of Bermuda to the US Virgin Islands; in ecological terms, this route will traverse the North Atlantic Gyre “from a temperate climate zone to a tropical climate zone,” offering rich biodiversity of marine species. Jeff had parents of program participants examining marine life in the lab throughout his session.
Oceans & Society
Students will build their knowledge as humanities scholars under the tutelage of Maria Jose (MJ) Fernandez, who joins the faculty to instruct the “Oceans & Society” course. Focusing on the New England coastline, the Caribbean archipelago, and the high seas, MJ offered “a micro-look at relationships among these three places” through the example of bananas. Unknown in 1850’s New England, by 1910 this fruit had become among its most popular foods. Splitting participants into five groups, MJ had each study and discuss an archival photograph to trace the evolution of this Atlantic trade during the period (spoiler alert: new technology, in the form of steamships, allowed United Fruit Company’s “Great White Fleet” to transport the fruit under speedy, refrigerated conditions).
Through all of these encounters, leavened with humor, SEA’s faculty showed their enthusiasm for their disciplines and Proctor’s students. These traits came through with SEA’s student life team as well. Four program associates, each of whom has experience with SEA’s voyages, will advise and supervise students in the two cottages they share at SEA’s Woods Hole campus. Cooking, living, studying, and playing together, students can expect to build community while ashore, building the interdependence they will need to run the ship in watches under the supervision of licensed mariners.
Students, faculty, and professional crew expect to board the SSV Corwith Cramer in early October. Check the blog for students’ reflections as the program gets underway.
Learn More about Ocean Classroom
- Ocean Classroom
- Off-Campus Program