Since 1994, Proctor students have studied at sea as a part of Proctor’s Ocean Classroom program. Throughout those nearly three decades, Proctor has worked with different partners, most recently Sailing Ships Maine, to deliver this life-changing off-campus program that puts students at the center of learning aboard a tall-ship. It is with great enthusiasm that Proctor announces a new partnership with Sea Education Association (SEA) out of Woods Hole, Massachusetts for the fall Ocean Classroom program. 

Day began on the Schooner Harvey Gamage at 5:00 AM with the loud clanking of the windlass above my clammy bunk in the forward most compartment of the ship called the fo'c's'le or forecastle. As the crew pumped the arms up and down in a seesaw fashion to retrieve the anchor chain, it made its characteristic deep rumbling sound as they fed the heavy links into its wooden housing box above my cramped quarters where I bunked with Gabe and Madoc who were gracious enough to share their space with me for my leg of the Ocean Classroom adventure from Key West up to the Gulf Coast.

Proctor Academy's Ocean Classroom program departed Key West and made the transit up the gulf coast of Florida to St. Petersburg, and on to Panama City where the student crew was interviewed by the local news station. Read more below from Molly '24 and Winter Ocean Classroom and the once in a lifetime experience students from both Proctor and the MET School (Providence, RI) are having during their 65 day voyage. 

Proctor Academy's Ocean Classroom program has arrived in the Florida Keys after a 400 mile voyage from northeast Florida. En route to Mobile, Alabama to see first hand the last slave ship to arrive in America (the Clotilda) and to continue their studies on the history of involuntary servitude, injustice, and the Civil Rights Movement in America, the crew of students from Proctor and the MET High School (Providence, RI) are well on their way to becoming true sailors. Read more from their voyage below. 

Proctor’s Winter Ocean Classroom program is in transit from St. Augustine, Florida to the Florida to Key West and the Dry Tortugas. The program brings twelve Proctor students together with seven students from the MET School in Providence, Rhode Island for a one of a kind immersion learning experience at sea. As the group continues their voyage, students reflect on the learning - both in their classes and in their daily life aboard Schooner Harvey Gamage. Read more from Rex below: 

This past week in Charleston Harbor, a group of Proctor folk gathered for the send off of the Harvey Gamage and Proctor’s Ocean Classroom program. Students from Proctor and the MET Schools in Providence, RI prepared over the course of the last two weeks to learn to be mariners and how to collaborate with each other while helping to run a tall ship for the next 65 days. Led by Brooks Bicknell ‘77 in his final stint as Ocean Classroom director, the fall and winter versions of Ocean Classroom culminate with one of a kind lessons that students carry with them for the rest of their lives. 

Over the past two weeks, Proctor’s Ocean Classroom students have experienced life on the open waters. As they entered the Gulf Stream and sailed south, we caught up with the student crew through daily journal entries and photos. Read more from the past two weeks on Harvey Gamage below!

As with any ocean voyage, unexpected obstacles early in the term tested the crew's patience aboard the Harvey Gamage, however, the past two weeks of sailing, training, and educational experiences throughout the Gulf of Maine have quickly made up for lost time. As students learn to crew Gamage and begin to experience life at sea, their reflections in daily journal entries tell a powerful tale. Read more from the last two weeks on Ocean Classroom in the words of our students below!