Carolina Coastal Classrooms, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation whose mission is to provide environmental education programs promoting understanding and appreciation of our coastal waters and maritime heritage through hands-on shipboard educational experiences. The centerpiece of this program will be the environmental education curricula taught onboard the skipjack ADA MAE and eventually the schooner CAROLINA.

The skipjack ADA MAE was built in 1915 in Rose Bay and is the only surviving working sail vessel built in North Carolina. The schooner CAROLINA will be built as a reproduction of a classic 19th century coastal fishing and trading schooner. These educational vessels will be stationed in New Bern, North Carolina and will offer daily and extended shipboard environmental education programs throughout the year. Programs will provide educational opportunities for students of diverse racial, ethnic, socio-economic and educational backgrounds. Students participating in these programs will learn about themselves, their abilities, their environment and their maritime heritage through hands-on experiential education. Trained educators will serve as the crew and will conduct the onboard "classroom." Shipboard experiences will involve team-building and practical applications of shipboard skills using math, science, ecology, social studies, reading, writing, computer science and critical thinking. Shipboard experiences and skills are linked to achievement expectations from the North Carolina Department of Education Standard Courses of Study for certain public school core curricula. Shipboard curricula include water quality analysis, marine life studies, hydrodynamics and aerodynamics, sail theory, navigation and studies in environmental stewardship. Students will participate by steering the ship, raising and lowering the sails, dredging and trawling for oysters, fish, crabs, shrimp and plankton to be used for onboard study, making weather observations and discussing environmental concerns affecting marine life in surrounding waters. Students will be able to enter data into the Carolina Coastal Classrooms, Inc. interactive web site and maintain contact throughout the school year with the educational vessels ADA MAE and CAROLINA as they sail coastal North Carolina's waterways. It is estimated that between 3000 and 4000 students may participate annually in these onboard educational programs.



This program is modeled after two successful programs, the Living Classrooms Foundation, located in Baltimore, Maryland, started in 1984 and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, in Annapolis, started in 1966. These programs have a combined track record of over 50 years of proven success offering hands-on shipboard environmental education programs to school groups and organizations throughout the northeast and Mid-Atlantic states. Visit www.livingclassrooms.org and www.savethebay.cbf.org for more information about these dynamic organizations.

Traditional educational systems today are faced with new and increasing demands for time, resources and creative methods to prepare today's students for tomorrow's challenges. Some educatorsare expressing desires for more time in their programs to develop subject matter to the levels that will excite and ignite today's students' interests and sustain students' thirst for more knowledge. Increased demands for time and testing are causing some programs difficulty in maintaining excitement and appeal. Students sometimes fail to see any personal relevance to the math and science courses they are taking in school today.

For many years, the people of North Carolina have been made aware of environmental and water quality issues that have made significant changes in our ecology and ultimately, our quality of life. Some students want to know how they can help resolve these issues in a positive manner. Many people have done an excellent job of raising our collective awareness of these issues. Carolina Coastal Classrooms, Inc. proposes to do something about them.

Carolina Coastal Classrooms, Inc. objectives are to partner with traditional classroom teachers and students by offering environmental education programs that augment the core curricula of math, science, ecology, social studies, reading, writing, computer science and critical thinking. Carolina Coastal Classrooms, Inc. programs will target North Carolina school students in the fourth through tenth grades. The curricula will be adaptable to senior high school and junior college students as well. Programs are designed to create confidence and excite students about studying math and science and "de-mystify" certain subject matter through practical applications of shipboard skills and duties. Science will be hands-on, hands-wet and FUN. Students will get involved in researching issues, writing, critical thinking, debate and analysis. Students will participate in mock "town hall" meetings representing all sides of debatable issues surrounding environmental and natural resources concerns.

The educational vessels ADA MAE and CAROLINA will be designed to carry students, teachers and crew for day trips (5 hours.) Schools can schedule day trips during the week from March through mid June and from late August through mid November. During the summer months, extended nine-day "live aboard" programs may be offered for academically gifted students, students with special needs and for youth at risk.

A curriculum development and review committee will review curricula periodically to ensure accuracy and relevance. Curricula will be produced on CD-ROM to facilitate periodic updating and distribution. Curricula will be available to classroom teachers as part of Carolina Coastal Classrooms' school outreach program. Ship's crew will go into the school classroom to help teachers with the facilitation of programs they will experience on the water.

Our goal is to provide exciting hands-on experiences for students to learn about our coastal environment and positive ways in which they can help make a difference. Carolina Coastal Classrooms, Inc. will develop a sense of environmental stewardship among these students that will guide them, as they become our future leaders and decision-makers.

To learn more about Carolina Coastal Classrooms, Inc. or to speak with us about working together, contact Ben Bunn at (252) 638-7862 or via email at benbunn@earthlink.net.

Photos courtesy of the Living Classrooms Foundation