As I write this, Roseway has finally entered the trade winds and is making way towards St. Croix, with an expected arrival sometime later this week. The passage from Cumberland Island to St. Croix represents the longest offshore leg of our Ocean Classroom program (anywhere from 12 – 14 days) and encompasses so much of what voyaging is about. 

This weekend, Proctor's Ocean Classroom crew of twenty-one students continues departs Georgia for a fourteen day passage to St. Croix. Five weeks into their once in a lifetime journey, students reflect on midnight bow watches, bioluminescence, dolphins, and living and learning alongside their best friends. 

As the schooner Roseway and Proctor’s Ocean Classroom program voyage south along the eastern seaboard, their educational journey unfolds. As with all of Proctor’s classes, the learning that takes place is transcends books, lectures, and traditional learning. Ocean Classroom is perhaps one of the most extreme examples of experiential learning at Proctor, and therefore, its impact on student perspective is truly transformative.

Proctor's Ocean Classroom aboard the schooner Roseway has made its way through a few days of waiting for Hurricane Joaquin to head to sea, and recently sailed into Manahattan. Their nine week journey along the eastern seaboard en route to Puerto Rico continues to bring out the best in each student as they encounter unforeseen challenge, inclement weather, hands-on learning, research projects, seasickness, and new perspectives.  

A week ago, family, advisors, and friends waved goodbye from Gloucester Harbor as the Roseway sailed into the Atlantic and Ocean Classroom began its term at sea. Tomorrow, the group departs New London, Connecticut and sails into the Long Island Sound, keeping a careful eye on Hurricane Joaquin as its path unfolds along the eastern seaboard. Already, the lives of the twenty-two students aboard are being transformed. Read student reflections from the first week below.