Scuba had an exciting weekend!
We dove Breezy Point in Far Rockaway on Saturday and found our first attached underwater oyster in Jamaica Bay….and then found another one!
They will be genetically sequenced to see if they are “wild” or related to restoration oysters in Jamaica Bay.
On Sunday we dove Orchard Beach in the Bronx, where we were volunteering on a beach clean up. Justin Rosales found the first of MANY oysters. Two oyster reefs were located, one be a jetty and the other deeper down in the channel.
This is the first oyster reef I have seen in New York City, and it gives me tremendous hopes that our restoration efforts will be successful.
11th and 12th graders completed 67 dives last week, which was made possible by our awesome new wetsuits which Julian and Joe got through two different grants they got.
Next week we hope to get the 10th graders in now that it is a balmy 54 degrees in the water!
-Liv Dillon, Harbor School Dive Instructor
Aquatic Club has their first meet!
On April 18, 2013, the New York Harbor School Aquatic Club participated in its first swim meet against George Washington High School. This event marked a milestone for the school and for the students, as it was all of their first times swimming competitively. George Washington proved to be fierce (but friendly) competition, but overall the meet was a huge success. Rachel Anderson, a 10th grader, took 1st place in the Girls 50 backstroke, and the co-ed Medley Relay also won their event, with Rachel swimming backstroke, Julian Perez (11th) swimming breaststroke, Paul Williams (11th) swimming butterfly, and Jackie Rosado (11th) swimming freestyle. In every event, Harbor School swimmers set personal and school records. After the competition, swimmers and coaches from the two schools celebrated with snacks and mingling, and the NYHSAC left the event feeling proud and even more motivated to swim on!
Marine Biology Research Class visits Black Rock Forest
On April 20 and 21 the New York Harbor SEALs traveled inland to beautiful Black Rock Forest to study mammalian evolution. The adventure began with Dr. Kidder and Mr. Munson helping to randomly pick a sampling station in the forest to set the mammal traps. It continued with a geocaching competition to teach the students to find waypoints using GPS – a vital skill for finding the randomly generated site picked earlier. We then took a pick up truck/roller coaster ride up to the site where the students fanned out with surveying flags, tape measures, compasses, and tomahawk traps in hand. After two and a half hours of trap setting we hiked over to Eagle Cliff to catch the sunset over the beautiful New York landscape. Night time set in as we descended back to the lodge on a three hour hike guided by moon light shadows. As the evening wound down there was no need to enforce the 11pm lights out rule. Sleep was brief as we got up early the next morning to check the traps. Although we weren’t lucky enough to catch any mammals, we came back to the lodge and had a world class primer on mammalian evolution using skins and skulls by Dr. Jeff Kidder. We topped it off with a trip to the dark basement to get a glimpse of Matt’s dermastarium. Not soon after we got back on our banana bus to head back to the city did the young trappers doze off for the trip back home. It was another successful trip to Black Rock Forest. The courage, leadership, and teamwork demonstrated by the SEALs was phenomenal.
-Mauricio Gonzalez, Marine Biology Research Teacher
May 4 - Billion Oyster Project Oyster Restoration Work Day on Governors Island
Help us restore the benevolent bivalve to its native habitat in the New York Harbor. New York Harbor School, a maritime career and technical education PUBLIC high school located on Governors Island, is working to restore ONE BILLION OYSTERS to the New York Harbor over the next ten years - and we need all the help we can get! Come spend a day working with students and staff of Harbor School as we prepare for the Spring cultivation season on Governors Island and at our floating nursery in the Brooklyn Navy Yards. We’ll spend the morning preparing “cultch” (recylced oyster shell) and building out spat collectors and reef mimics. After lunch we’ll get a lift in the school vessel Indy 7 over to the Brooklyn Navy Yards where we’ll clean, sort, and haul oyster trays and other aquaculture gear back to GI. The day ends at 4PM and we’ll give you a lift back Manhattan or the Brooklyn Navy Yards. Dress appropriately for the weather and the work (gloves and waders will be provided.) Please bring your own bagged lunch, water bottles, hats, sunscreen, and other essentials for the outdoors. Kids 10 and over are welcome so long as they’re ready to lend a hand. Meeting time is 9:45AM sharp at the South Street Seaport Pier 15 in lower Manhattan. Any questions feel free to email: sjanis@nyharbor.org. Thanks and we hope to see you on May 4!
6 Harbor Students going to Florida for training on how to map sunken slave ships
Harbor School students Henri Reiss-Navarre, David Furst, Julian Perez, Gabriel Soto, Nathan Ferenczy, Gabriel Taliaferrow
were accepted into a three year, all expenses paid, program in underwater archaeology run by Ken Stewart and Diving with a Purpose. They will be flown down the Florida this summer to learn basic underwater archaeology techniques and then begin mapping a sunken ships in the area. This program includes students from all over the world, including students from Mozambique and South Africa.
This will culminate (in the third year) in a trip to South Africa, where our students will work with archaeologists from George Washington University who are mapping slave ships that sunk off the coast.
We are so proud of them!
Liv Dillon, Harbor School SCUBA instructor
Students have a private history lesson on the War of 1812 battle on Lake Erie. Pretty cool discussion with Capt. Wes Heeressen. Followed by a generous invite for students to sail aboard this summer tall ships event in the Great Lakes.
A Working Weekend for Harbor
Kennington Hall spent all day Saturday assisting Ann and Aaron teach CPR/First Aid to 12 Pioneer crew members at the Seaport, and Ansuom Geraldino, Cullen Palicka, Manolo Caba and Nancy Chowdhury spent all day (8:30 - 5:30) assisting in the teaching of 26 college students and other adults including Rick and Bev the NY Safe Boating Course, including planning and delivering lectures on Boats and Motors, Fueling and Ventilation, Equipment and Boat Operations. These student’s dedication, professionalism and spirit of community service deserves recognition.
-Captain Brendan Malone, Marine Systems Technology Teacher
Harbor School SCUBA divers home safe and sound
Made it back to the 5 Boroughs safe and sound. Those who completed every dive returned with 22 Dives. It would not have been possible without the Island School and specifically Ron Knight & Karen Wilmoth Knight, i hope to be a part of it next year as the whole experience, most especially the chance to see the kids grow that much in one week, is amazing. Go Harbor!
-Eli Smith, Harbor Foundation Board Member
For information on sponsoring please contact smalinowski@nyharbor.org
