Vol. 2, Issue 3
June 21, 2013
1
The
Harbor
Current
Sanguinem cæruleum portus effundimus Late Island Final
Founded 2011
Harbor Corps: Above and Beyond An Environmental/Maritime SWAT Team Gears Up by Joy Junious
Photograph : Susannah Black
On the Canal: Harbor School First-Years Visit the Gowanus. For a complete report on the trip, see page 5
National Parks Club Visits Philly!
MST Students Speak by Carey Chance and Akil Atiba
by Kevin Credo Philadelphia-- The National Parks Club of the Urban Assembly New York Harbor School kicked off National Park Week with its first trip outside New York City to explore the fascinating sites surrounding Philadelphia’s Independence Mall. Led by social studies teacher Rob Markuske and park rangers Kevin Credo and Collin Bell from Governors Island National Monument, the club normally visits National Park Service sites around the New York City learning about how the NPS protects these valuable resources. Composed of students of the New York Harbor School, a maritime-themed public high school drawing students from across the city and focusing on environmental conservation, each excursion is meant to facilitate a discussion about stewardship, a mutual goal of both island neighbors. Continued on Page 5
The Harbor Current sat down with tenth grade Marine Systems Technology students Carey Chance and Akil Atiba to find out more about what makes this CTE tick. Harbor Current: Tell our readers about the Marine Systems Technology CTE. CC: Brendan’s basically teaching us how to become marine systems technicians in the maritime industry. Engine, fiberglassing, woodworking, welding, metalwork-- anything that has to do with a boat. But the skills he teaches can lead over into other businesses. Woodworking can become cabinetry, for example. At the beginning of the semester we built a toolbox, and that was painstaking I’ve always been an engine kind of guy. At the beginning of the year most of the kids didn’t
The New York Urban Assembly Harbor School is known to many as the leader in preparing students at a high school level to be the stewards of the environment, specifically in the maritime field and industry. As focused as Harbor School is, within it there are two groups of students who have centered and focused their attention on a range of environmental and other issues that the maritime world faces. One of these groups is the Harbor SEALs; see the feature about that group of citizen scientists on page 7 of this issue. The other group is the Harbor Corps. Harbor Corps is a small group of students nominated by their CTE teachers to apply. These students spend their time after school working on projects to both take action and raise awareness about the problems that we face both locally and globally. Since it has existed Harbor Corps has worked on several projects mainly involving the Oyster Restoration and Research program. This year however, it has taking an exciting turn. Under its new leader, Sam Janis, Harbor Corps has done a major art installation, inspired by the artist Asher Jay, showing how trash can be recycled into objects of beauty. The purpose of the project was to draw the school’s attention to the importance of recycling, and our goal of generating no landfill-bound waste. We used bottles of all shapes and sizes and paper mached them to provide a surface matte enough to paint on. The only non recycled thing in the entire project was the glue for the bottles and the paint we use to paint them. The group has other projects under way as well, including endeavors more directly related to oyster restoration work. Projects will be continuing over the summer, and will be popping up in many many places next year, so keep an eye out for us!
Continued on Page 5
Inside: A Diver’s Tales pages 2, 3
Oysters in the City page 3
Gowanus or Bust! page 5
Oysters, Wolves, Scientists and Tattoos page 6
Harbor SEALs for Science and the City page 7