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Photo: Abby Fox Last week, Rocky Hill School Headmaster Jim Young, left, led a tour of the school’s 50-foot Catamaran that he envisions as a classroom BY ABBY FOX
Rocky Hill School received a $100,000 grant last year from The Champlin Foundations to construct a classroom, but it’s different from any other at the school, or at most schools, for that matter: it’s a Catamaran, 50-feet long and 16-feet high, docked at the Potowomut River, the body of water next to the school’s campus, and Headmaster Jim Young envisions it as the school’s new “floating classroom.”
For Young, a member of the Rocky Hill Class of 1970, the boat represents a tie to the past, as he remembers being a student when former headmaster Nathan Hale would take out students on the water to learn about sailing and the environment. But, he said, “I would like to think this is fairly cutting edge, as I envisioned this as a classroom,” where classes could take water samples, plumb water levels, study vectors, collect live specimens for the boat’s bait dock, or explore local history, and bring their laptops along, too.
As a student of zoology and chemistry, Young said, he brings a “personal natural passion” to the school and hopes that students will appreciate how “this historic piece of property is unparalleled, as far it’s location on the marine environment.” Young said, “Being here is just extraordinary and I want that enthusiasm passed on to the students.”
Teachers have been aware they would be getting a boat, built for the school by a catamaran company in Tennessee, and are excited about how they’ll incorporate it into the curriculum, he said. “The Mariner,” as the school plans to name it, will be ready for the first day of class on Sept. 9.
Besides Rocky Hill’s teachers using the boat, “We will begin to try to forge those connections” with schools like the University of Rhode Island and groups like Save the Bay, he said, and find ways for them to do partnerships with teachers on different projects.
“I wanted to maximize our exposure on Narragansett Bay,” he said. “This is the perfect way to get our kids out on the water and learn by doing. There are a lot of different things we can do; so much is possible.”
A catamaran is ideal for a portable classroom because it’s stable and doesn’t draw much water, he said, “so a kid can feel comfortable, not feel afraid,” if he or she isn’t familiar with boating. Students will have adult supervision, work in small groups – no more than about 24 at a time - he said, and they’ll all have to wear life vests on board.
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