Spirit of South Carolina - Title One Schools

Meagahn Van Liew of the South Carolina Maritime Foundation tells me that 37 "at risk" teens from Title One schools in Charleston County have completed a six-week summer program that used the Tall Ship Spirit of South Carolina as a teaching tool. The majority of the students were minorities and most qualified for free lunch during the school year. The program is called the 21st Century Spirit Ocean Adventure summer program and consisted of day classes  that stressed reading, navigation, coastal ecological processes, marine life and swimming lessons. Following these classes the students flew to New York City (where the Spirit was) to sail around Long Island Sound and Block Island Sound. Lowcountryoutdoors.com asks you to raise your hand if you have ever sailed on the Spirit around Long Island Sound?! Besides the aforementioned perk, the core goals of this course are to improve literacy and prevent drop-outs while increasing their leadership skills and self-confidence. On August 6th the students made presentations about their studies, and shared photos from their sailing trip, for friends and family at the Charleston Maritime Center - demonstrating how sailing is a great connection to the outdoors and offers a different kind of education experience.