Freshman Spotlight: Spencer Margosian '23

Learning to LOVE Boats

When I was approached about writing the Freshman Spotlight this year, I was a little bit reluctant—not because I didn’t want to share my experiences, but because upon my enrollment at Webb, I lacked a quality that many of my peers would consider necessary to apply: that is, I wasn’t particularly interested in boats. I belong to a small contingent of Webbies who applied to and enrolled at Webb Institute not specifically for its acclaim in the maritime world. Rather, I found Webb to be an appealing school for its academic prestige and came to love the school through communicating with Admissions, reading student features and blog posts, and most notably, my prospective freshman (PF) experience. The PF system is undoubtedly the most unique part of the Webb admissions process, and spending a day on campus was so impactful to me that Webb went from a college that I wasn’t seriously considering attending to my first-choice school.

When I arrived at Webb last fall, I didn’t really expect that I would latch onto the maritime setting in the way that others in my class would. While the curriculum would take some time to grow on me, I still loved the engineering-focused curriculum and the collaborative atmosphere of my classroom. Even if I had been sold on boats coming in, I can’t imagine that my semester would have been any more fulfilling than it already was, from the chaos of the Freshman Boat Competition to the excitement of our many NA1 field trips.

As much as I loved my first semester, I would not be able to truly appreciate the depth of a Webb education until my first Winter Work term, for which I secured a position at Resolve Magone Marine, a salvage yard in Dutch Harbor, Alaska. The ability to not only learn about but to see first-hand the unique challenges and jobs in a shipyard and salvage setting was incredible, and I was even allowed to board and work on their emergency response tugboat, MV Resolve Pioneer, when she went under way on jobs and drills.

My second semester took a chaotic turn pretty early on when the student body was sent home to wait out the by Spencer Margosian '23 coronavirus pandemic, and while tackling an academic program as rigorous as Webb’s was no easy feat, our small size and close-knit nature made an extremely difficult transition far easier than it could have been. As frustrating as the hiccups along the way may have been, I’m incredibly proud of my peers and our faculty for surmounting the difficulties that we have faced this year.

I’d be lying if I said that I was completely sold on the maritime industry even after two amazing semesters, but with that said, my interest in the field has surely grown since I arrived last year—hence the name of my segment—and that interest grows with every class I take. Who knows; by the time I graduate in 2023, I may well never want to touch land again!

Spencer with his fellow co-workers at Resolve Magone Marine.

Spencer with classmates during a field trip to Philly Shipyards.