Through Their Eyes

We really enjoyed connecting with trainees and chaperones at the end of our spring sailing trips and hearing what stood out to them:

 “Probably the ocean and jumping into it. It was so cold! Once I jumped in I was like “OH NO!!” and just started booking it for the ladder. It was crazy. I’d say that.” – Anonymous Trainee

“I know that in all fields you have your own communications systems with everyone... You could look out and see a boat, and go to your radio station, and hear them talking to other people. That was super cool, to learn the languages and the lingo that they’re using.” – Siarra

“I learned that I like sailing more than I thought I would, and I’m not addicted to my phone, because I could last a whole week without it and it was fine. So that was good.” – Maria

“I never saw Earth this way before. I saw lots of islands and really nice scenery to look at. Just ocean and the forest… we played soccer on the beach. That was really fun. I never saw Earth in that way.” - Pietro

“It got [the students] out of their comfort zones in a sense and outside of their normal friend cliques. People were hanging out with other people they wouldn’t [normally hang out] with, making really strong friendships. I think it was something really fun for them, something they’ll remember for the rest of their lives.” – Chaperone

“I learned that in a scenario like this, it’s way easier to make friends. For example, there’s a few people on this boat that I would never talk to, but I thought, ‘why not’, so I decided to just go talk to them and I made a couple of really close friends.” - Taylor