PORT TOWNSEND — After one complete semester of programming driven by the Maritime Discovery Initiative, Port Townsend School District officials will update the public at a town hall meeting tonight.
The meeting will be between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. in the Port Townsend High School auditorium, 1500 Van Ness St.
The assembly will include a presentation about the program by its director, Sarah Rubenstein, and short addresses from teachers and students.
“This is a great opportunity for the students,” Rubenstein said.
“They are learning craftsmanship, stewardship, leadership and citizenship while they acquire problem solving skills and the ability to work on a team.”
Much of tonight’s meeting will be spent in open discussion, Rubenstein said.
Community members can ask questions about the program, she said.
Superintendent David Engle, who has been an architect of the program and has shepherded its partnerships, was originally scheduled to speak but will not attend because of a scheduling conflict.
One year ago, the district began implementing the place-based learning program which was designed to incorporate Port Townsend’s maritime orientation into all levels of public education.
The initiative began as a partnership between the school district and the Northwest Maritime Center.
It has recruited other partners along the way.
One is with Sound Experience, which operates the tall ship Adventuress.
Aboard the 102-year-old schooner, students learn about the ship’s maintenance, repair and renovation as they work on these projects under the supervision of crew members who pass on their skills.
The students “are doing real work and providing what the boat needs,” said Megan Addison, Sound Experience education director.
“When someone comes on board for a class, they leave after it’s over but these kids develop a bond with the boat.
“You watch them grow as they learn more and apply the skills that we’ve talked about,” she said.
Kelley Watson teaches to classes each week.
“They are learning hands-on skills, but there is also real gain in their confidence which you can physically see,” Watson said.
The morning class, which has 18 students, runs for two periods and alternates in the wood shop and on the Adventuress itself.
Students walk the mile between the school and the ship, Watson said.
The partnership with the Adventuress took shape after discussions between officials with the school district and the ship.
The Adventuress, which for the first time in six years is not being removed from the water in the winter months for repair and renovation, needed to generate winter income and continue its programs while the school provided eager, and free, labor.
“What I think is incredible is that I think we are the only place in the country where kids go to school regularly on a 100-year-old vessel,” Watson said.
The 133-foot, 100-ton historical ship is now moored in Point Hudson, a different location than the Boat Haven where it had spent the last five winters while its hull, masts, drive train and other parts were restored or replaced.
The Port of Port Townsend “made it easy for us to be in Point Hudson,” according to Catherine Collins, Sound Experience executive director.
A space large enough for the historic vessel to spend the entire winter was created there, she said.
Crew training on the Adventuress begins in March. After that, Sound Experience will begin its own instructional season.
Whether the partnership will continue through next year is unknown, Addison said.
“We’re not sure whether the port will be able to provide us with the space or whether we have the financial resources to make it work,” Addison said.
“But it’s been a great new experience for us to offer these educational programs dockside.”
The schooner was built in East Boothbay, Maine, in 1913 and sold a year later to the Port of San Francisco as a pilot ship. In 1952, it was moved to the Pacific Northwest. The nonprofit Sound Experience, based in Port Townsend, has operated it since 1989.
Childcare will be available during the town meeting through Firefly Academy Preschool. For more information, write fireflyacademypreschool@gmail.com.
For more information about the Maritime Discovery Initiative, go to www.maritimediscovery.org.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.