September 20, 2000
Program teaches the ropes of sailing, life skills
High school students take part in Alternative Programs for Success
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Sailing 101 = Life 101.
That was the theme last week on the Boardman Lake as 30 students from the Alternative Programs for Success set sail guided by volunteers with the Traverse Area Community Sailing program.
At first, the novice sailors tipped often and dunked themselves, stumbling about the waves in their Sunfish boats. Then, many of them slowly gained a mastery of the fundamental concepts of sailing: perseverance, physics and working with the wind. By the third day, many of the sailors who had come every day were zipping around the lake, tacking in the wind and navigating around pylons with poise and confidence.
"The first day was cold and wet, we all fell in," said Brandon, a senior at the Alternative Programs for Success. "I love sailing now. More than anything, sailing is a physics lesson where you are learning about momentum and speed."
For these students, who enrolled in the new alternative high school after struggling in a traditional educational setting, the hands-on lesson in sailing provided grist for their core academic lessons. Back in their classrooms at the Boys and Girls Club this week, they will write essays and poetry about sailing, use math to graph a course for sailing and study the history of wind-powered vessels for social studies. They will also study the basics of weather and wind patterns for a science lesson.
This multi-disciplinary approach to education is the hallmark of the Alternative Programs for Success, which began this fall and has 116 students enrolled in grades 9-12. Dedicated to accommodating different learning styles and speeds, the sailing provided students a chance for some hands-on experiential learning.
"In any activity there are aspects of language arts, science, math, social studies and history," said Ron Hoth, teacher and principal of the school. "Through any activity you can learn academic lessons and we are looking into other group projects like this."
The three-day sailing class was led by Jim Menzies, president of Traverse Area Community Sailing and a life-long sailor who has traveled all over the world. This special session was the group's last program of the season, which this summer taught between 200-250 students ages 8-17 the basics of sailing.
For the students from the alternative high school, mastering sailing also gave them a chance to build self-esteem.
"I think what I saw was so many kids who did not have a good feeling about themselves," Menzies said. "But what happened as the days went on, some of them kept coming back and it was amazing to watch them learn and feel good about themselves. Even when they capsized and got wet they just kept learning."
Menzies has seen, since 1994 when Traverse Area Community Sailing started, how sailing is a great way to teach. However, just like teaching someone to ride a bicycle, it has to be a hands-on experience. No amount of lecturing beforehand, explaining the principles of wind and balance, takes the place of getting out on the water and floundering around for a while, he said.
"Sailing is a great teaching device," Menzies said. "You don't have mom and dad telling you out there telling you what to do in the boat and the worst thing you can do is to capsize and get wet."
"It's one of these things that just builds and gives them a feeling of success. You can see it in their faces when they finally get the boats up and sailing."