CHAPMAN AWARDS

Winners of the 2024 teaching awards were honored at the Annual Meeting

BY AMY TOWNSEND

►During the 2025 Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida, National Educational Officer Chuck Wells presented the 2024 Charles F. Chapman Award for Excellence in Teaching to three outstanding instructors: Peter Dion, Carl Ericsson and Jay Higgins.

This year’s winners represent the best of the best of America’s Boating Club | United States Power Squadrons.

The Chapman Award is the highest recognition awarded to our educators, selected each year from a pool of nominees by the Chapman Awards Selection Team of the Instructor Development Committee. The honorees receive a recognition plaque, a gold Chapman Award lapel pin, a four-year Certified Instructor wallet card and their names inscribed in a permanent logbook kept in the Chapman Memorial Library at headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Peter Dion

• HILTON HEAD SAIL & POWER SQUADRON/26

• MEMBER SINCE 2001

• 10 MERIT MARKS

First qualifying as an instructor in 2015, Peter Dion has since become a Boat Operator Certification trainer and certifier He has taught most of the courses and seminars offered by America’s Boating Club | United States Power Squadrons including America’s Boating Course, Boat Handling, Piloting, Advanced Piloting and Jump Start and trained and certified members on the BOC-Inland Navigation and Coastal Navigation levels. As squadron educational officer and squadron commander, Peter was one of the key team members in 2022 to build up the BOC program, working with national to get trainer/certifier support and with the district to get funding and participation from other squadrons.

According to district educational officer H. Michael Zafoot, Peter’s enthusiasm, accomplishments and strong teaching abilities make him deserving of recognition and honor.

His dedication and passion for teaching have earned him the respect of his students and peers. Don Becker said Peter is an ardent advocate for in-person teaching especially, but “whether in the classroom, on the dock, or underway, Peter coaches students with patience, ensuring that each one gains confidence and competence."

Becker said that Peter is always the first to volunteer to teach and is eager to share his knowledge.

“What sets Peter apart in the classroom is his ability to facilitate learning in a way that resonates with all students, regardless of their level of experience,” Becker said, going on to praise Peter’s student-centered approach to instruction.

“His dedication and passion for teaching have inspired countless students and fellow instructors,” Becker said. This not only enhances individual learning, but also “strengthens our squadron’s mission to promote safe and effective boating.”

According to Rick Sturges, going beyond the basics is a trademark of Peter’s instruction style He is “always looking for a two-way dialogue with his students to stimulate and reinforce learning,” Sturges said.

While Peter is always ready, willing and able to teach, he is also a team player and is willing to step aside to encourage a new or lesser-used instructor to take over. Peter has been instrumental in recruiting and grooming new instructors.

He believes that a strong educational program undergirds the success of the organization. “One of my most important roles over the last several years [has been] to encourage and train new instructors to grow organizational capability and maintain it for the future,” he said. According to Peter, the squadron’s educational program is one key to the squadron’s success because it’s “a source for providing safe boating skills, new member enlistment and retention of our existing members.”

Particularly important is person-to-person contact in the classroom because it builds relationships, Peter said. He regularly stops during material delivery to welcome questions and expand on the discussion. He also shares his phone number and email with students after class to provide him with valuable feedback and address additional questions.

His favorite part of teaching is the on-the-water element. “The responses from students as you help them put their training into action is very rewarding” he said.

CARL ERICSSON

• TYBEE LIGHT SAIL & POWER SQUADRON/26

• MEMBER SINCE 2017

• 6 MERIT MARKS

As a retired college professor of 40 years, Carl Ericsson has demonstrated exceptional knowledge and mastery of his profession in teaching America’s Boating Club | United States Power Squadrons classes. As squadron educational officer for Tybee Light, he has overseen a variety of programs such as on-the-water training, BOC, advanced grades and elective classes. He has taught America’s Boating Course and Boat Handling and has provided on-water coaching sessions through Crew at the Helm and BOC.

“I feel his knowledge has been a positive influence on the development of class instructors along with developing better teaching aids and class presentations,” said district educational officer Michael Zafoot. “Carl sets goals for the members and enthusiastically is getting them to achieve a one-class or seminar goal per year.”

Eschewing a lecture format, Carl prefers to keep his classes intimate and get students involved.

“I have no problem asking specific people questions related to the topic And even if they don’t know, I still don’t let them off the hook. They get to brainstorm, guess or ask others for help,” Carl said. “My role is student involvement. I want them to appreciate the hours they spend and to become better boaters, not just pass the exam.”

Peggy Hegarty, who took Boat Handling and America’s Boating Course with Carl, said he is knowledgeable, thorough and passionate in his teaching. He takes his time to make sure students understand the material and concepts. “No question is too basic or silly to ask,” she said

He also gets students and members involved in other ways, inviting them to join when he volunteers with Dolphin Project, Clean Coast and in local sailing regattas This allows them to further their boat handling knowledge and skills with on-the-water training while assisting a worthy cause.

As SEO, Carl conducted a survey to discover what members were interested in learning, and he follows through with scheduling those courses. Each year is filled with a full, comprehensive schedule of classes.

According to Mike Helgesen, “All good teachers communicate clearly, know their material and come to class prepared. Superior educators, however, bring much more to the process.”

And what Carl brings is patience for struggling students, enthusiasm for both the subject matter and the process of delivering knowledge, a surprising knowledge about his students, extra preparation, and an ease in teaching adults and youngsters alike. More than that, Helgesen said, Carl has the “humility to include several of our squadron’s senior members as instructors” and attends classes even when he’s not the designated instructor.

He is the type of instructor who easily connects with students and makes the subject matter understandable, which encourages students to get involved, said Dennis Cusanelli.

“Carl has the great ability to read the classroom and cater the instruction to match the student’s ability and desire to learn.”

Thanks to Carl, Tybee Light has one of the highest numbers of America’s Boating Course students both signed up and passing the exam.

JAY HIGGINS

• LAS VEGAS SAIL & POWER SQUADRON/13

• MEMBER SINCE 1974

• 6 MERIT MARKS

After obtaining the Senior Navigator advanced grade, Jay Higgins became a full certificate holder in 1991. He also has a 50-ton Captain’s License and cofounded a sailing club in the Chicago area.

Upon moving to Nevada in 2018 and getting reinvolved with America’s Boating Club | United States Power Squadrons, Jay began teaching, starting with Junior Navigation and Navigation. Now, he has taught an array of classes, from America’s Boating Course, Rules of the Road and VHF Radio seminars to advanced subjects like Celestial Navigation.

Under his leadership, his involvement in the squadron’s educational program has been nothing short of transformative. As SEO, he led the squadron to hold a winter seminar series that included How to Use a Chart, Rules of the Road, Weather for Boaters and Trailering Your Boat, as well as a summer seminar series that included VHF Radio and DSC and How to Use a Chart. He presented a NOAA Custom Chart app seminar at a District 13 spring conference in 2024 to update members on NOAA’s transition to electronic vector charts.

His students and peers describe him as “an instructor’s instructor” and say his commitment to learning and collaboration sets him apart. He partners with subject matter experts for their refreshing expertise like when he brought in commercial airline pilots to participate in the instruction of the Weather course.

In his classes, Jay always looks for opportunities to use teaching aids and equipment so that the students have a hands-on experience to see and feel the equipment being presented. For example, he incorporates red and green jackets in class to emphasize which is the stand-on and give-way vessel.

“Using myself and a squadron member, I create the head on, overtaking and crossing situations, and ask the student to place the green jacket on the stand-on vessel and red jacket on the give-way vessel,” Jay said. “I use an 18-inch-tall sail on a stick to represent the sailing vessel.”

Amilia Saunders, who took Sailing and Navigation with Jay, credits him with being able to pass the Navigation exam.

“His class teaching was so comprehensive that it gave me the knowledge to dive deep into the sailing techniques,” she said. “I believe he has a gift for speaking to students. I found him to be patient, serious and well-experienced.”

In fact, it’s Jay’s patience and one-on-one instruction style that have resonated with so many students.

“He guided me without judgment to problem and exercise solutions, all without simply providing the answers and then discussing them,” said Allan Bombard, who also took Navigation with Jay. “He helped me put it all together by joining me on a path to understanding the principles behind the activities.”

Having taken a number of Jay’s classes, Kirk Fulks echoed this sentiment and praised his calmness and patience. “He inspires students to keep learning and go to the next level in every course I have taken with him.”

Jay keeps his teaching philosophy simple.

“If through teaching safe boating courses, I can prevent just one serious boating accident, serious injury or death, then all of my efforts as a volunteer instructor will be worth it,” he said. ■