Students on course with technical skills

Erin Richards:

On a morning that would otherwise be spent in class at Bradley Tech High School, nine teens were sanding, grinding, measuring and painting this week aboard the Great Lakes schooner the S/V Denis Sullivan, docked off Canal St. on the Menomonee River.

When times were good and grants were more generous, the tall ship wintered in southern Florida, but it's stayed in Milwaukee for the past three years.

A new program called Schooner Boatworks, supported by several grants and Discovery World at Pier Wisconsin, has made the most of that situation for the past two years by allowing about 20 Bradley Tech students to work on the ship for 2 1/2 hours each Tuesday for 12 weeks during their second semester.

Students learn technical skills and collaborate on projects under the guidance of the ship's full-time captain and engineer, and they do weekly writing assignments about their experiences. A proper sail on the Sullivan at the end of the school year tops off the experience. Participants have to maintain at least a C average and good attendance.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at March 12, 2012 2:29 AM
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