Maritime Career Immersion. It sounds pretty self explanatory, doesn’t it? Immerse students in the world of maritime careers. Hands-on transformative maritime time experience are our thing here after all. But MCI is about so much more than spending time on the water or in the boatshop. It’s aimed at building durable life skills through the lens of maritime education.
This summer MCI students have shown up twice a week, clocked in, and gotten right to work following the same break schedule and rules that they will encounter in a real job. MCI is an internship designed to teach high schoolers how to be ready, be present, and learn the invaluable skills necessary for navigating the adult world. They’ve learned how to paint and how to drive a boat, but more importantly, they’ve learned how to work as a team, respect others’ time, stick to a goal, and how to find confidence and self-compassion along the way.
The beauty of MCI’s structure is that it isn’t rigid. The programming can move around with the ebb and flow of the many other programs happening on campus and still manage to hit the mark. With so many summer camps, learn to sail programs, and boatshop classes, we had to find the space and timing that worked best for each day. I do feel that the constant changing plans of this summer’s program was an amazing lesson for these teens to learn. They did great with rolling with the punches. Learning to keep track of time and work independently can be a difficult transition to make after years of school schedules, but it’s such a valuable workforce skill, and it’s something these students were able to do easily from the first day.
So what was an MCI day like?
Most mornings were spent in our classroom space focused on lessons ranging from vessel lights and sound signals to resume writing. While basic maritime training and durable life skills are the goal, they also finished the program with CPR and first aid training, their Foodworker’s Card, and their Boaters Card. The afternoons were either spent in a boat on the water figuring out how to row, sail, navigate, and dock; or down in the Boatshop learning maintenance techniques and proper tool use from Joel and Tyler while maintaining our wide variety of vessels.
This cohort really loved being down in the Boatshop. Honestly, if you asked them, they loved anything that didn’t involve a computer screen or me talking at them for more than 10 minutes. I can’t say I disagree. They were lucky enough to have a ton of maintenance projects to hop in on including painting and varnishing our fleet of Point Hudson Dories, replacing a plank on Gibnut, oiling masts and oars for the longboats, rigging 420’s, learning outboard repair, and even a little fiberglass work on an inflatable dinghy.
The verdict was: painting is not fun and varnishing is even worse, sanding is surprisingly meditative, engines are awesome, power tools are great, and nobody likes fiberglass.
My favorite part of MCI was being out on the water and watching all the whiteboard lessons click. In our very first week, this group learned how to sail and row on Onward. By the end, they could sail the J-80’s, drive the dinghies, and dock Martha J without me having to say or touch anything. That’s a proud Program Manager moment if ever there was one. And that’s the entire point of what we do here! 10 weeks ago, 3 of these students had never even been in a boat before and now, they can drive our rigid hull inflatables to Fort Flagler and back all while keeping track of other vessels, reading navigational markers, and making weather observations based on what the clouds are doing. I am so thankful that we are able to offer this experience to students who may not necessarily end up in the maritime job force, but will always remember that they were given the chance to try something new and find out how much they are capable of.
So why did these 4 students choose to join MCI for the summer?
One is enrolled in the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding’s systems course this fall, and thought it might be smart to learn “literally anything” about boats before he got there. His plan is to work on the ferries, or maybe join the Navy. Perhaps both.
Another student grew up sailing with his family and thought it would be a good thing to have on his resume for college. He’s also working on getting his pilots license and is planning to become an aerospace engineer.
The other two students aren’t sure what they want to do yet and that’s just as valid. This program is as much an exploration of self as it is of the maritime industry.
By Halee Grimes, Career Prep Program Coordinator
