Bayfront Summer Program
With support from the United Way of Erie County, BMC offered a credit recovery program for teens attending Erie High School. On-line curriculum coupled with BMC staff assistance and exciting on-the-water maritime experiences created a fun and productive learning environment. Students had access to laptop computers and high-speed Wi-Fi connection. Afternoons were spent enjoying on-the-water adventure aboard a BMC vessel.
The Pennsylvania Department of Education – Migrant won the 2011 Excellence in Summer Learning Award from the National Summer Learning Association.
Credit Recovery Made Fun!
Students practice teamwork and communication skills while hoisting the jib aboard BMC’s catamaran Taco the Town.
Sailing on the Erie Boat, Erie’s historic fishing boat BUILT BY KIDS at BMC.
The Bayfront Summer Program over the Years
For the past eighteen years, the Bayfront Summer Program has provided summer enrichment opportunities for students throughout the area. The Bayfront Summer Program began in 1999 on the Bayfront Maritime Center’s waterfront campus. It was originally tailored to migrant, immigrant, and refugee students who were developing their English proficiency and catching up on their studies.
Summer students learned language arts through hands-on maritime based STEAM subjects, Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math. Participating students learned how to read a nautical chart, handle a variety of vessels on the water, identify parts of a boat, and interpret weather forecasts and conditions. Students have learned to navigate using Global Positioning System (GPS) and have built underwater Remote Operating Vehicles (ROVs), both from scratch(!) and from kits.
Instruction has included Math, Computer Skills, Language Arts, and Literacy, sailing, rowing and paddling skiffs, canoes and kayaks (some that they have helped to build). The young people also learn Basic Boating and Safety.
Over the years, diverse enrichment activities have included Edinboro University Reading Specialist’s providing individualized instruction, perch fishing, and field trips. Students have kept journals, learning to express themselves creatively while becoming proficient with the English language. Students have designed and created personalized carved wooden plaques while learning Computer Numeric Control operating BMC’s ShopBot Digital Fabrication Equipment.
In 2011, Dr. Lisa Ramirez, Director of Migrant Education in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education at the U.S. Department of Education, recognized the Erie School District, the Bayfront Maritime Center, the Pennsylvania Department of Education – Migrant, and IU5, for their joint summer program, during the National Migrant Education Conference in Nashville, November 14-17, 2011.
