Proctor's Ocean Classroom program set sail for the 23rd year out of Gloucester Harbor Friday afternoon. Each September since 1994, twenty-two Proctor students have boarded an authentic tall ship and learned to sail the 137 foot schooner. Over the past three years, Proctor's partnership with World Ocean School has afforded students the opportunity to sail with educators and crew aboard Roseway, a U.S. historic landmark.
ANDOVER, NH (September 23, 2016) -- Proctor Academy launched a semester at sea program called Ocean Classroom in 1994, with a partnership with World Ocean School beginning in 2014. Each fall twenty-two Proctor students spend nine weeks aboard World Ocean School’s Roseway, a 1925 137 foot fishing schooner built in 1925 to an exceedingly high standard. Throughout her history, Roseway has represented the United States in international races, set a record of 74 swordfish caught in one day, protected Boston Harbor as a pilot boat during World War 2, and was named a U.S. National Historic Landmark. This fall, the Schooner Roseway will take part in perhaps her most remarkable act of her 90 years of service when she sails into Havana Harbor and becomes the first authentic U.S. Tall Ship to dock in Cuba in 57 years.
When we pause and look at our lives, it is fascinating to see how various events unknowingly prepared us for where we are today. As Annie Waterman ‘00 embarks on a new venture AOW Handmade, an international consultancy connecting artisans and buyers around the globe, she sees how each step in her journey prepared her for this new adventure.
Eight weeks ago, twenty-one Proctor Academy students boarded the Schooner Roseway in Gloucester, Massachusetts on a perfect September day. Family and friends waved goodbye with tears of hope and pride creeping down their cheeks. They knew, as did the students aboard the Roseway, the experience that lay ahead would be transformative. As program director Dave Pilla told families aboard the Roseway in September, "Your sons and daughters will return changed."
After nearly fourteen days at sea, Proctor's Ocean Classroom aboard the Schooner Roseway finally made it to St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands. Read the crew's most recent ship's logs to get a sense of what has been happening aboard the Roseway since landfall on Thursday. With just two weeks remaining in their nine week journey, Ocean Classroom is savoring these final days together in the Caribbean!
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.
