youth development
sailing
The Sailing Program uniquely serves its South Bronx community, where virtually no familiarity with sailing existed before, by exposing sailing to students as early as middle school and engaging them in an intensive afterschool program during their high school years in which they become proficient sailors capable of teaching sailing to others. Generally, students who enter the program have never been in a boat and often don’t know how to swim. Over the course of four years they learn not just to swim and to sail, but to teach sailing to others, while working toward receiving an internationally recognized U.S. Sailing instructor certification. In 2018 the program received U.S. Sailing Community Sailing Center status, one of only 40 such sites in the country meeting the highest standards. The Sailing Program’s apprentices teach the summer Sailing Camp, help run Community Sailing days, and are exposed to maritime career possibilities they may never have considered.
My first time on a week-long sailing trip as a Program Assistant is a memory I will not forget. Out on the Long Island Sound, I was astonished by how quickly the students picked up on the basics of sailing. Within two days they were able to sail a boat by themselves. It was in that moment I felt a sense of accomplishment. I successfully taught my students something I love to do.
