Maritime Career Fair Well Attended

By Capt. Rick Franke

 

Over 500 high-school aged young people and their parents came together to learn more about careers and jobs on and around the water on the last Saturday in February.  The venue was the first annual Marine and Maritime Career Fair, sponsored by The National Sailing Center and Hall of Fame, Anne Arundel County Public Schools and the Eastport Yacht Club Foundation.  The event is designed to give county students a glimpse of the vast array of possible careers available working on or near the Chesapeake Bay and the nation’s waterways.

The 25 organizations exhibiting at the fair included some national in scope like the Maritime Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Naval and Merchant Marine academies as well as local recreational boating businesses such as Bay Shore Marine Engine Service and Annapolis Harbor Boatyard. The enthusiasm of the exhibitors was typified by Corporal Cameron Brown of the Maryland Natural Resources Police who explained his agency’s interest in the event. “… We think it is important to educate young adults about the various different careers that are available to them in the marine environment… like police, fisheries, engineers, coastal programs. It’s important that young people know, especially in Anne Arundel County, with so much water around us, that so many different jobs are available to them.”

Arundel High junior James Johnson was able to “… talk to military recruiters and get information… and find out about different jobs I could look into and still be working around the water.  I’m a lifetime fisherman and I love being around the water.”

Susan Nahmias, Education Director for the Sailing Hall of Fame and the prime organizer of the event summed it up as “… a great first effort. We’ll be back next year.”

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

CONTACT: Susan Nahmias

Phone: 443-822-3737

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

 

FIRST ANNUAL MARINE AND MARITIME CAREER FAIR TO PROMOTE MARINE TRADES EDUCATION

 

Annapolis, MD February 15, 2011--- Young people interested in careers on and around the water have a unique opportunity to learn more about employment options in the marine industry this month.

 

The National Sailing Center and Hall of Fame, The Eastport Yacht Club Foundation and Anne Arundel County Public Schools are producing a Marine and Maritime Career Fair on Saturday, February 26 from 1 to 4 PM at Annapolis High School on Riva Road. The fair, the first of its kind in the Annapolis area, will give students from grades 8 through 12 the opportunity to meet representatives from such diverse maritime employers and resources as the US Naval, Merchant Marine and Coast Guard Academies, the Chesapeake Area Professional Captains Association, tour boat operators and many local marine service providers. In all, more than 50 organizations will have representatives on hand to meet with interested students and discuss career opportunities in the field, ranging from military to recreational boating.

 

According to Susan Nahmias, Education Director for the Sailing Hall of Fame, and organizer of the fair, “The National Sailing Center and Hall of Fame has partnered with the Anne Arundel County Public Schools and the Eastport Yacht Club Foundation to present our first MARINE and MARITIME CAREER FAIR on Saturday, February 26.  The fair will be at Annapolis High School from 1 - 4 PM.   The purpose of this fair is to introduce students in grades 8 - 12 (and their parents/guardians) to the vast array of CAREERS that directly connect to the Chesapeake Bay and the education and training required. We hope that by presenting a Career Fair rather than a job fair, students and their parents will gain a better understanding of the preparation necessary to be a viable candidate for these jobs.  The fair was designed to provide a stimulus for students seeking employment/training directly out of high school as well as those who will pursue advanced degrees.”

 

“As a follow up,” Stephanie Duncan-Troxell, Chair of the Eastport Yacht Club Foundation, explained, “The Eastport Yacht Club Foundation website will have a dedicated location within the MAST (MArine Skills Training) page where after-school, weekend and summer jobs and internships can be posted as they may come available."

 

For more information contact Susan Nahmias at 443-822-3737 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 12, 2010

EYC Foundation, Inc. Learn to Sail Scholarships Awarded to local youth

Annapolis, MD – Ten(10) scholarships were awarded to local youth for the popular 2010 Eastport Yacht Club Junior Learn-to-Sail program by the Eastport Yacht Club Foundation, Inc..  The scholarship program was established to provide young adults, ages 8-14 the opportunity to understand and appreciate sailing by attending one of the 3- week sessions that were held June 22- July 10 and July 13-31. 
The recipients were awarded the scholarships by foundation chair Helen Drewett. “The Eastport Yacht Club Foundation, Inc. provides maritime opportunities to our youth by building skills, promoting accomplishments and nurturing self- esteem and self-worth” comments Drewett.  For more information on Eastport Yacht Club Foundation visit www.eycfoundation.org.

Junior Sailing Scholarships

The Eastport Yacht Club Foundation offers at least four (4) scholarships (one session each) each year for the Eastport Yacht Club Learn-to-Sail program for youngsters 8 - 14.  Scholarships may partially or fully cover the session tuition, depending on the established need.

The Scholarship Program is designed to introduce the “understand and appreciating of boating” to youngsters who would otherwise be unable to participate in the Eastport Yacht Club Learn-to-Sail program.  For further information about the Eastport Yacht Club Junior Sailing Program please go to www.eastportyc.org.

The EYC Foundation Directors have voted to fund 10 scholarships for 2009.

Download Application - Due by May1st

Send completed application to:

Eastport Yacht Club Foundation
Junior Sailing Scholarship
317 First Street 
P. O. Box 3205
Annapolis, MD 21403

 

EYC Foundation Oyster Kids Program

(From an article by The Capital reporter, Pam Wood, May 20, 2008.)

“On a rainy, chilly day in October, (students from Hillsmere Elementary) got their first messy hands-on experience with oyster shells that had been covered in baby oysters, or “spat” by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

They measured the spat and tested various water quality indicators. The oysters were then lowered in cages off the yacht club docks.

Throughout the year, the kids learned about oysters in the classroom and some took turns visiting the yacht club to clean, measure, and inspect their oysters. Then yesterday, the students got a quick refresher in water quality and measuring oysters before heading out on the water with volunteer captains. This was the eighth year for the yacht club foundation’s Oyster Kids Program.

Keilara Jones and Paula Lowe, both 11, explained how oysters reproduce by shooting tons of tiny sperm and eggs into the water.

Monica Park, 11, said she thought it was important to help the bay by replacing some of the filter-feeding oysters that have been lost over the years.

... Mrs. Kirchner said she never ceases to be amazed at how few of her students have had boating experience before, even though the school is on a peninsula bounded by water. She said she hopes they appreciate “just the perspective they get from the water, looking back at Annapolis where they live.”

 

EASTPORT YACHT CLUB FOUNDATION PROVIDES SCHOLARSHIPS FOR LEARN TO SAIL PROGRAM

Annapolis, MD – Students  and coaches from the recently completed 2010 Summer Learn to Sail Program pose for a group picture at the Eastport Yacht Club.

Ten of the students were attending on full scholarship grants from the Eastport Yacht Club Foundation. The grants are provided as part of the Foundation’s mission to “…increase community understanding and appreciation of boating and promote youth involvement in water-related activities.” The scholarships were awarded to at risk youth based on recommendations from such diverse community groups as Eastport Elementary School, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, their Cub Scout leader and the Annapolis City department of Youth and Community Affairs.

Two of the students, Jermaine Wellman and Julia Cates, progressed so rapidly that their coach recommended them for participation in the more advanced Friday night racing program conducted by the yacht club.

According to Helen Drewett, Immediate Past President of the Foundation and coordinator of the program, “… Stephanie, the coach who worked with the younger kids, said she loved having them in the program. Stephanie is recommending Jermaine and Julia for the racing program and hopes they can return for more advanced sailing next summer.”

The Eastport Yacht Club Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the Club and promotes participation in boating, environmental awareness and marine trades education through collaborative programming, fundraising and community partnerships. For more information visit the Foundation’s website at www.eycfoundation.org

 

Oyster Kids Help Rebuild Oyster Reef

Eastport Yacht Club member and Oyster Kids volunteer   Jack Fillmore demonstrates the proper way to gently add new oysters to an existing oyster reef.

The recent outing on the bay near Annapolis was part of the ongoing Oyster Kids program, now in its fifth year, conducted by the Eastport Yacht Club and the Eastport Yacht Club Foundation.
Each year in the fall, a group of fourth and fifth graders come to Eastport Yacht Club on Spa Creek to measure immature oysters, called spat, growing on old oyster shells. The oyster spat is provided by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. After measuring the spat, the children place the young oysters in cages and lower them into the water in protected locations under the docks at the club where the oysters remain all winter.

In late spring the students return to measure the oysters again to assess their growth during the winter. The oysters are then taken out into the bay and added to existing oyster reefs. This year more than a dozen volunteers from Eastport Yacht Club and Seafarer’s Yacht Club volunteered their time and the use of their boats to transport the students and the oysters to their destination for their release. When the boats return to the club, the students are treated to a pizza lunch before boarding busses to return to their schools.

The purpose of the program, which is funded entirely by the Eastport Yacht Club Foundation, is to reinforce classroom lessons about the natural history of the oyster and to emphasize the importance of the bivalve to both the ecology and the economy of the Chesapeake region.

The Foundation is the Eastport Yacht Club’s Philanthropic arm. Volunteers are needed for the upcoming fall portion of the Oyster Kids program. For more information or to volunteer visit the foundation website at www.eycfoundation.org.

 

EASTPORT YACHT CLUB FOUNDATION AWARDS FIRST MARINE SKILLS TRAINING, MAST SCHOLARSHIP


Annapolis, MD---The Eastport Yacht Club Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Eastport Yacht Club, recently awarded the first MAST, MAritime Skills Training, and scholarship to Leif Carlsson, a graduate of Broadneck High School.  Leif, who attended the Marine Repair Technology program at CAT South with the Anne Arundel County Public Schools, will be attending the New England Institute of Technology’s marine trades program in Warwick, RI.

The new EYCF initiative, MAST, represents a major commitment on the part of the Foundation to help young people become a part of the boating industry that is so important to our Chesapeake Bay area.  The program was introduced to the Center for Applied Technology – South last year to teachers and students from area schools with scholarships available.  Jan Kunz, EYCF Board Member and MAST Chair, presented the award at the May 14 ceremony at South River High School.