ROCKLAND, Maine — Wanted: curious, hardworking University of Maine students to spend 10 weeks seeing the world from the decks of a schooner.
No sailing experience necessary — but the ability to unplug themselves from cell phones and computers is a must.
Those intrepid students will be the first to take part in the school’s brand-new SEAmester program, and earn 12 science and humanities credits while sailing thousands of nautical miles on the traditional wooden boat the Spirit of Massachusetts.
“The idea is getting students to sea on a vessel,” said Peter Neill, executive director of Ocean Classroom Foundation, which moved its headquarters from Rhode Island to Boothbay Harbor in 2007. “They get a full encounter with the natural world they’re studying.”
He spoke last week from the immaculate deck of the Harvey Gamage, which was docked at Rockland Harbor. That schooner, the Westward and the Spirit of Massachusetts make up the foundation’s fleet, which spends the winter months sailing around the Caribbean. The SEAmester program originally was accredited by Long Island University and later by the University of Massachusetts in Dartmouth. But representatives from the University of Maine School of Marine Sciences said they are thrilled to bring the program north.
William Ellis said it makes a good addition to the university’s established Semester by the Sea program at the Darling Marine Center in Walpole.
“This is a neat idea,” he said of the SEAmester trips. “We hope it’s every spring forever.”
Student interest is high, said John Petrillo, director of undergraduate programs at Ocean Classroom Foundation. Those who register by mid-November get a 20 percent discount off the $12,000 voyage fee for the spring 2010 semester program, he said.
Those who sign up can expect to work hard, learn a lot and have fun while they’re underway. The ship likely will make ports of call at places such as Antigua, Dominica and the Dominican Republic, and study topics including celestial navigation, language, environmental issues, history and culture of the Caribbean.
“We’re learning about the things we’re seeing,” Petrillo said. “If we learn about colonialism and race in Santo Domingo [the capital of the Dominican Republic] we will see that.”
While many Americans subscribe to a popular perception of the Caribbean as an “island with happy natives, palm trees and drinks in hand,” Petrillo said, those aboard the schooner will not. Trips usually include service projects at various points of call, he said.
“I think what we’re really good at is taking kids out of their comfort zone,” he said.
The program also is aimed at helping students become proficient sailors. At the beginning of each trip, each student will be considered an apprentice deckhand who will learn to be an active crew member by journey’s end. They will take four-hour watches, learn to navigate, manage the sails and more. Past students have risen to the challenge, Petrillo said.
“The ones that find it the hardest at the beginning are the ones that cry the hardest when they leave,” he said.
For more information, visit www.seamester.net or call John Petrillo at 800-724-7245.