HRCS has used STEM as the basis for their education programs since their founding in 2008. Every year, they work with approximately 120 NYC public high school students, building math, science, and leadership through sailing and boatbuilding.
The Youth Development Program is designed to be intensive and transformative, providing support throughout a student’s high school career. HRCS students not only learn to calculate current speed, repair an outboard engine, and assistant teach in our summer camp—they learn to speak up for themselves, help run a business, and become leaders among their peers. HRCS targets students who are struggling in math and science, from all five boroughs, where, on average, 35% of students pass math standards. Every student who has gone through the four-year program has graduated and attended college, many in engineering and the applied sciences.
City Sail reaches a broader sector of the New York City community, targeting approximately 300 students, ages 11-16 from schools all over the city. Students come in for a weeklong session, during which they learn to sail, study STEM concepts, and plan a daylong expedition in New York Harbor.
HRCS has used modules from US Sailing’s Reach curriculum since its inception three years ago. Reach ties in naturally with HRCS’s experiential, STEM-based lessons. Anemometers, buoyancy, water quality testing, and marine debris education and prevention are all an integral part of HRCS’s curriculum. HRCS teaches Reach topics in both its year-long programs and its summer City Sail camp, and is thus able to offer Reach education eight months out of the year. Read More
Maeve Gately
Development Associate and Sailing Educator
Hudson River Community Sailing
www.hudsonsailing.org