Vol. 2, Issue 3
June 21, 2013
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The
Harbor
Current
Sanguinem cæruleum portus effundimus Late Island Final
Founded 2011
Harbor Corps: Above and Beyond An Environmental/Maritime SWAT Team Gears Up by Joy Junious
Photograph : Susannah Black
On the Canal: Harbor School First-Years Visit the Gowanus. For a complete report on the trip, see page 5
National Parks Club Visits Philly!
MST Students Speak by Carey Chance and Akil Atiba
by Kevin Credo Philadelphia-- The National Parks Club of the Urban Assembly New York Harbor School kicked off National Park Week with its first trip outside New York City to explore the fascinating sites surrounding Philadelphia’s Independence Mall. Led by social studies teacher Rob Markuske and park rangers Kevin Credo and Collin Bell from Governors Island National Monument, the club normally visits National Park Service sites around the New York City learning about how the NPS protects these valuable resources. Composed of students of the New York Harbor School, a maritime-themed public high school drawing students from across the city and focusing on environmental conservation, each excursion is meant to facilitate a discussion about stewardship, a mutual goal of both island neighbors. Continued on Page 5
The Harbor Current sat down with tenth grade Marine Systems Technology students Carey Chance and Akil Atiba to find out more about what makes this CTE tick. Harbor Current: Tell our readers about the Marine Systems Technology CTE. CC: Brendan’s basically teaching us how to become marine systems technicians in the maritime industry. Engine, fiberglassing, woodworking, welding, metalwork-- anything that has to do with a boat. But the skills he teaches can lead over into other businesses. Woodworking can become cabinetry, for example. At the beginning of the semester we built a toolbox, and that was painstaking I’ve always been an engine kind of guy. At the beginning of the year most of the kids didn’t
The New York Urban Assembly Harbor School is known to many as the leader in preparing students at a high school level to be the stewards of the environment, specifically in the maritime field and industry. As focused as Harbor School is, within it there are two groups of students who have centered and focused their attention on a range of environmental and other issues that the maritime world faces. One of these groups is the Harbor SEALs; see the feature about that group of citizen scientists on page 7 of this issue. The other group is the Harbor Corps. Harbor Corps is a small group of students nominated by their CTE teachers to apply. These students spend their time after school working on projects to both take action and raise awareness about the problems that we face both locally and globally. Since it has existed Harbor Corps has worked on several projects mainly involving the Oyster Restoration and Research program. This year however, it has taking an exciting turn. Under its new leader, Sam Janis, Harbor Corps has done a major art installation, inspired by the artist Asher Jay, showing how trash can be recycled into objects of beauty. The purpose of the project was to draw the school’s attention to the importance of recycling, and our goal of generating no landfill-bound waste. We used bottles of all shapes and sizes and paper mached them to provide a surface matte enough to paint on. The only non recycled thing in the entire project was the glue for the bottles and the paint we use to paint them. The group has other projects under way as well, including endeavors more directly related to oyster restoration work. Projects will be continuing over the summer, and will be popping up in many many places next year, so keep an eye out for us!
Continued on Page 5
Inside: A Diver’s Tales pages 2, 3
Oysters in the City page 3
Gowanus or Bust! page 5
Oysters, Wolves, Scientists and Tattoos page 6
Harbor SEALs for Science and the City page 7
CTE Special: Pro Diving
A Diver’s Tales: The Pro Diving CTE and the Challenge of New York Harbor
Julian Perez, who will be a senior next year, is a Professional Diving CTE student. Here, he describes the CTE and its relationship to the Harbor School’s oyster restoration work. Professional Diving student projects vary. Tenth grade students focus on trying to qualify for the final recreational certification or rescue diver certification. Both eleventh and twelfth graders work on acquiring a Scientific Diver certification; the projects that they are currently working on are National Park Service biodiversity surveys, specifically in search of native populations of eel grass, bay scallops, and, of course, oysters! When we find live specimens, we send them to Kingsborough Community College where they are genetically tested, in order to correctly repopulate the native species, rather than accidentally introducing alien species. The Juniors and Seniors not only work on surveying the National Park waters of the New York/New Jersey
Editor-in-Chief: Joy Junious Contributing Writers and Collaborators: Kevin Credo, Carey Chance, Akil Atiba, Anna Lurie, Alicia Salgado, Jamie Torres, Lola Boone, Anna Lurie, Mauricio González, Tiffany Smythe, Special thanks to Matthew Haiken, Murray Fisher, Mauricio González, Sam Janis and Cate Hagarty.
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by Julian Perez Harbor estuary, they also do solo dives to directly monitor the Harbor School's oyster reefs, to help with the Billion Oyster Project. We are going to be entering a new phase in this project soon: we will be diving off of Governors Island beach for the first time on June 8th and 9th to install artificial oyster reefs in Buttermilk Channel. Diving off of the Island requires special planning for several reasons. First, the beach is only visible at slack tide. Second, currents will affect us more in the Channel than in Jamaica Bay. Third, Governors Island Beach is parallel to Red Hook's container terminal, and the Channel an active boat trafficked area. Fourth, the combined sewer overflows in the area complicate things: every time it rains a tenth of an inch or more, the city's water treatment plants aren't capable of treating the waste water, so this means that the excess water gets dumped into the various overflows throughout the harbor, which prevents us from diving for three days, until the water quality is safe enough to dive in. Fifth, when diving
Adviser: Susannah Black Acting Principal: Edward Biedermann New York Harbor School Battery Maritime Building 10 South Street, Slip 7 New York City, NY 10004
in the Harbor, we will be doing solo dives, rather than dives with buddies. In my experience from diving in Jamaica Bay, divers are lucky to see a vertebrate in the water. We usually see a lot of crabs like blue, horseshoe, and spider crabs; we sometimes see vertebrates like fish. I think it will be similar in the Harbor, but there's most likely more debris there. No shipwrecks that I know of... I would like to see better water quality before exploring a wreck in the Harbor. So far I haven't dived directly in the Harbor, personally, but Gabriel Soto and I are scheduled to be the first divers to install the Oyster reefs. I feel prepared. All of the Harbor School divers are experienced in low visibility, cold, and poor bottom composition dives, because of all of our dives in Jamaica Bay. Both Liv and Joe have trained us extremely well and trust that we can get the job done and install the artificial reefs.
We always welcome opinions, feedback, letters to the editor, and news tips. Reach us at newspaper@newyorkharborschool.org The Harbor Current is an open forum for the expression of student views. The opinions expressed herein should not be taken to represent those of the administration or faculty, or of the student body as a whole.
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Diving the Bahamas Here, Perez spoke with the Harbor Current, describing a recent adventure he’d gone on as part of his CTE. A far cry from New York Harbor... HC: Tell our readers about your diving trip. JP: We went to the Bahamas because the sophomores needed a hundred foot dive so they could get their advanced open water certification. I went as a student dive master-- I was just moving around with them as they did their dives, seeing what they needed down there. The trip was Regents week, in February. We took a plane from Laguardia to Nassau, then from Nassau to Rock Sound, Cape Eleuthera, on Eleuthera. The water was crystal clear. There’s pink sand on the beaches. There were lobsters, moray eels, lionfish, groupers, parrotfish, stingrays-- even a white-tip reef shark once, while we were descending at a dive site called The Cage. We looked at him, he looked back at us. We did a total of twenty-four dives, with one night dive. We stayed on the Island School campus. The Island School is a place down there-- you go for either a semester or a summer, and you learn about the ecology of the Bahamas, both human ecology and maritime ecology. You commit to a research project, and when you’re done you publish your findings. HC: Did you do that program?
JP: I spent a summer down there-- between Freshman and Sophomore years-- I spent seven weeks there. I went with Basil Taliaferrow-- it was nice having someone from the same school. That’s where I learned how to dive. We learned about the culture of the island, and we went on a bunch of overnight trips, either kayaking or road trips. Also, each of us spent 24 hours alone on the beach. The night on the beach was hard-- the mosquitos were crazy. It was good getting some alone time, though. We couldn’t have our watches-- they only allowed you to have one luxury item, and mine was my snorkel mask. So when I got really bored-- or really hot-- I went into the water just to cool off. I saw a baby nurse shark, a pretty big barracuda, The night took forever. I saw the dawn though. HC: What was the specific research project you were working on? JP: The project I did down there was aquaculture-we studied the biometrics of cobia, a very fastgrowing shark-looking fish, one of those fish that’s almost ideal for aquaculture, except that it’s a carnivore. We were seeing if we could lower the percentage of fish meal in their food, to see if that would affect their growth. There was no difference we could detect. We were also working to see whether we could get gobis, cleaner fish, to clean their tanks instead of using chemicals. So we put gobis in the tank, made little homes for them... didn’t
work, though. We came up with the hypothesis that they were scared, because they’d only ever been in a small tank, and now they were in this huge tank with all these hundreds of fish... they also may have gotten eaten. HC: What other projects were going on that summer? JP: There was also a shark project-- students were tagging them, seeing where they were going; [and] a conch project, monitoring them. They’re a major food source for the Bahamians. And then there was a bonefish project, some lionfish research-- studying their biology and monitoring their movements, studying their diet. They’re invasive to the Bahamas, so they wanted to see what they were eating. After that, I knew I really liked diving, so I switched my CTE from aquaculture to diving. I’ve got an aquaculture foundation, but I’m more interested in diving. I want to be as scientific diver, incorporate SCUBA into research. I’d get a biology degree. I’m also interested in fisheries management. As the wild population of fish in the ocean is declining, I want to see if I can make connections between the decreasing populations and how much we’re taking out. It’s a finite resource, though it seems infinite at times. I want to figure out how to make it work, without the negative long term effects that we’re pretty much heading into. I’ll have to deal with the politics side of it, I know-- I might want to be an environmental policy maker, too.
Taylor Environmental Group, Inc. Congratulates the Class of 2013 Environmental Analytics and Consulting for New York and the World www.taylorenvironmental.com
MST Students Speak --continued from page 1 know the difference between a two-stroke and a fourstroke engine. But they know now. It’s a hands-on specialty-- you get your hands dirty. I like it; I’m glad to be a part of this industry. What’s our motto again? They break it, we fix it. They scratch the hull, we gotta paint it over. People think it’s easy-- you just scratch the side of the hull, but that little crack could actually put the integrity of the hull at risk, and lead to the boat sinking, putting people’s lives at risk. I definitely want to pursue this professionally. Before I came to this school I was into cars and bikes, and everything that’s the power source of a car and a boat, the principles are the same, it’s just a different setup. Only difference is that boat engines are truly water-cooled. I’m actually thinking about opening my own business. Me and Kyle talk about that. AA: Hey, ME and Kyle talk about that! HC: What kind of business would interest you? CC: There was a guy who came to visit, used to work at Mystic to do boat testing and sales, he’s a millionaire now. That’s something-- I’d like that, I’ll tell you. Or-- Ramon, a former student here, works
Philly Visit --continued from page 1 In Philadelphia, the club dove head first into the past, stepping straight off the bus into Independence Hall. Volunteer-In-Park Al Cavalari not only engaged the students in the stories of the famous events that took place in the building, but also some forgotten characters of American history. The students were especially interested in the story of Caesar Rodney, whose desperate ride to Philadelphia to vote for independence is now commemorated by the Delaware state quarter. After another great interpretive program in Congress Hall, the home of the U.S. Congress from 1790 to 1800, the club headed to lunch for some of the students very first Philly cheesesteak! After a short break and the nourishment of the delicious local cuisine, the club moved on to visit the Liberty Bell, a highlight for many members of the group. Gathered around the bell, the students listened intently as Park Ranger Mike Doneton gave a great talk on its history, and provided some valuable insight into how this simple bell became a powerful symbol of freedom. The trip concluded with a visit to the President’s House site, where students learned about the challenges of telling the story of both George Washington and the nine slaves he brought to Philadelphia during his residence in the city. As future advocates for environmental conservation, the students learned a valuable lesson about communicating to the public about an issue that is both complicated and potentially controversial. After taking a few moments to reflect on the day’s activities, NPS Club packed up and headed back to New York City, satisfied with a successful adventure in Philadelphia and having learned, as Harbor School student William wrote about his first time experience with Philly's culture and cuisine “about our great country’s history and how tasty their local food was!”
for the Reinauer company now-- you’ve seen these tugs around the harbor, they’re the white and burgundy ones. I’d love to do something like that as well. I really do love the CTE. To tell you the truth, MST is the only thing that gets me up in the morning. It’s one of my motivations to come. I’m sick or whatever, and I think to myself, aww, but Brendan’s going to complain-- so I get myself out of bed, I get to school. I’ve already started thinking about my senior project. I want to take the engine out of my car and put it on a jet ski. I used to work at the navy yard on the weekends. We worked on the Privateer--
5 SeaRay, which has a Mercury Cruiser engine-- we might be working on those. We got an engine crane the other day, and the seniors lifted the engines out. The Mercury Cruiser needed a lot of work... I don’t prefer working on sailboats-- but if it’s got an engine room or an electrical system, I’m perfectly fine.
AA: That’s the buoy tender. I know that boat. CC:--Yep. We worked on the cabin house, did fiberglassing, sanding, it needed a lot of Bondo-that’s a body filler. I was also in the engine room. I’ve also done maintenance on the Pescador, and on the Indy 7. Next boat we’re going to be working on, probably, is a pilot boat-- it’s like one of those rigid inflatable dinghies that you see the FDNY and the Coast Guard going around in, in the Harbor. The Sandy Hook Pilots used to own it. We have to build a dolly to take it out of the water first. Also, the two boats we have by the side of the building-- the CrisCraft, that’s got a Volvo Penta engine, and the
CALLING ALL STUDENTS! Be a Summer Correspondent for
photograph by Susannah Black
Engine Crane Goodness: Brendan Malone and Thomas Palicka at work.
the Harbor Current! What are you doing this summer? A job, an internship, a program, a trip-- we want to hear your stories! Write us a letter or article about your adventures, and send it to: newspaper@ newyorkharborschool.edu. The best pieces will be chosen for inclusion in the next issue!
Sloop Update: Work continues on construction of the New York Bay Sloop, a project funded by Collectors Foundation. Collectors Foundation is an educational grant-making organization founded by Hagerty Insurance and funded by collector vehicle and classic boat enthusiasts to serve youth development and the long-term interests of the collector vehicle and classic boat communities. More information about the Foundation can be found on its website: www.collectorsfoundation.org
Congratulations to the Class of 2013! All the best,
SUTO Productions
Students Attend Hiroshima Memorial by Anna Lurie and Representatives of the Tenth Grade Class On May 2, a group of twenty-two 10th graders attended a very special event hosted at the Japan Society. The students listened as two survivors of the atomic bombing in Hiroshima, the grandson of President Truman, and the daughter of one of the principal scientists in the Manhattan Project shared their stories and ideas for reconciliation. The Harbor students represented our school extremely well, and everyone left feeling deeply moved by what they had heard and seen. The students wrote thank you letters afterwards. Here are a few of their comments: "I had never known how bad the bombs were and what devastation occurred due to them. You opened my eyes…" Joshua A. "I really like the fact that you continue to be really happy and with joy even though you have been through a lot." Angie M. "It is incredible to me that you have the strength to live on despite the great tragedy you suffered through. You people inspire me to live life to the fullest and spread love and compassion every where I go." Alexis J. "I understand you bore a heavy burden, but take heart. We may not be able to go back and change the past, but we can create a kinder, more loving future for the world, as you said." Henri R.
Gowanus or Bust!
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NYHS Field Class Investigates “Brooklyn’s Coolest Superfund Site” by Jamie Torres
“YIKES! The water is green!” said a student in section one. On Tuesday May 7th, the freshman class went to the Gowanas Canal for Field Class, along with the field teachers Ann Fraoli, Jeremy, and Carla. Also, the global history teacher Rob tagged along. Field Class at the Harbor School is a very interesting class. It teaches you about the Harbor, educating you about bodies of water, ocean animals, etc. Every two weeks, each freshman class goes on a trip to one of New York City’s bodies of water. This trip to the Gowanus Canal was particularly interesting-- and, as anyone who knows the Gowanus can imagine, particularly gross! photo by Danika Durant
Lower away!
Towards the Union Street Bridge, built in 1905, when water transport was at the heart of the City’s economy. All of the bridges that span the Gowanus are drawbridges, to enable boats to navigate the length of the canal.
British military map, 1776, showing the major battle sites, ships, and marching routes of the Battle of Brooklyn Heights, a.k.a. the Battle of Long Island. The Gowanus is dead center.
“Welcome to the Gowanus Canal: Brooklyn’s Coolest Superfund Site.” A major skirmish in the Battle of Brooklyn Heights, the largest battle in the Revolutionary War, happened along (and partly in) the Gowanus Creek, which would later become the Canal. On August 22, 1776, supported by British warships including the HMS Rose, the British landed on the southwest shore of Brooklyn. On the 27th, they attacked. The British army advanced along the Gowanus Road, and the Continentals had to retreat across the creek. The ones who could not swim were captured or killed. General Washington, watching the retreat from the intersection of Court Street and Atlantic Avenue, was heard to say “What brave fellows I must this day lose!” Those who escaped retreated to the Continental fortifications on Brooklyn Heights, on the other side of the creek. Perhaps hoping to spare lives and give Washington the chance to surrender, the British Commander, Admiral Howe, did not press the attack. For a day and a half, the Continentals were holed up on the Heights, as the British prepared for what they thought would be a siege. Finally, on the night of the 29th, not willing to lose more men, Washington evacuated his troops across the East River to Manhattan, and eventually the Continental Army retreated to New Jersey. The British held New York until the end of the war.
This dilapidated houseboat on the West bank is the only one that remains of a former colony of houseboats that used to float here. If the Canal is restored, could such a colony be reestablished?
6 Student Voices Oysters, Wolves, Scientists and Tattoos: Alicia Salgado and Lola Boone Talk Aquaculture and Ambition Harbor School students are adventurous sorts, and each Career and Technical Education specialty, or CTE, seems to encourage a different kind of adventure. In this interview, the Harbor Current spoke with juniors Lola Boone and Ashia Salgado about an expedition they’d gone on as part of their Aquaculture program, as well as their plans for the future and where they hope their CTE experience will take them. Harbor Current: What was the greatest adventure you’ve ever been on related to your CTE? LB: Well, last year we went to Fisher’s Island; a bunch of my aquaculture peers went to Pete [Malinowski]’s family’s oyster farm. It’s just fun to go camping, with your friends, see what you’ve spent so much time on [studying], see them harvesting the oysters. And we helped. We pulled all the oysters out of the water, counted them, checked for dead ones, cleaned all the ropes and cages. I shared a tent with my two best friends, Erin and Ashia. Most people forgot to bring blankets, but I brought three, so Ashia and I were just snuggled up under one. We had a bedtime, which sounds really lame, but it was because we had to get up so early. And you get kicked out of the house, you have to go into a tent, and you have your phone and your friends, but you’re so tired with working with the oysters that you just go to sleep. We were on Fisher’s Island for two nights. AS: The sleepover was the best part, though-going in tents with our friends. LB: truck.
And going around the island in a pickup
AS: Yeah. It was fun, like it was a small town, even though it was an island. It was great to meet Pete’s parents and help out. LB (to Ashia): Were you with us, in the back of the pickup truck, when we got lost and ended up at the airport? AS:
Oh, yeah.
LB: All of a sudden we were at this landing strip-- the car stopped, we turned around, we were driving through grass. I was like, “We’re lost.” AS (Trying to remember): What were we looking for? The dock? LB: No, firewood. couldn’t find the beach.
On this beach.
And we
HC: What do you want to do with your Aquaculture CTE? Do you want to do something professionally that’s related to it, and what steps are you taking? LB: [Ashia] and I have been trying to getting in to various summer programs. We applied to one called Oceans for Life. There are two slots for Harbor School students, and we’re hoping it’s her and me. There’s also [a program] in Greenland, and you’d have to camp on the ice sheet. And prepping for the SAT, trying to get above a 2100. AS: I’m sort of using my CTE-- I’m going to be a marine veterinarian.
LB: You’d have to do a marine bio major and then pre-vet, right? AS: The University of Florida actually has a marine vet program; I think they’re the only one. LB:
What, you wanna give tilapia CPR?
AS (outraged): NO! [I want to work with] dolphins, sharks, [animals] like that. LB: Oh, we also have a CPR test next class. And I was reading that [the] compression-only [technique] is just as effective as mouth-to-mouth. Which is awesome if you have to give CPR to a really dirty person. AS: Last year I was in the Harbor Corps program, and we went up to Woods Hole. They have a lot of well-known scientists there. It really inspired me-- I’d already been interested, but it made me want to do more than just biology, I want to help animals. We saw all these presentations, and I got to sleep in an old church. The boys slept in-- I think it was also a church. We met a whole bunch of scientists, got to go to a seal feeding. A lot of scientists [at Woods Hole] were focused on the environment, what happens to the water if sea levels rise... [She wants, however, to focus on working with individual animals rather than the more abstract ecosystem questions.] Once we saw the seals... there was one seal who was blind. I wanted to help her... they were going to release her into the wild, but she was already too domesticated, she couldn’t fend for herself at all. They had found her when she was a baby. The reason why I wanted to come to this school is that I found out about manatees, and how they’re going extinct. The Woods Hole visit just confirmed that interest [in working directly with animals]. And then I was with my cousins watching Shark Week... I’ve always been interested in sharks, why they act the way they do, and that also made me more interested. But I see a connection [between the individual animals and the environmental issues.] While I’m researching individuals, I’ll be finding out how they affect their environment, how they’re important to their environment, and how their environment can change to improve their health. LB: The thing about being a scientist is, though, that you’re going to have all these opinions about things that need to happen, and they’re just never going to happen. Or they’ll take a really long time to happen. HC: What would prevent these problems from being solved? AS:
Money.
LB: Money. I’ve been really environmentally conscious since a young age. My mom was so mad when Gore wasn’t president. This whole issue about global warming has been around for so long, and nobody listens about it. There hasn’t been any big change. And that’s really what’s going to effect the animals. People who stall their cars outside to warm
them up-- I just want to go write on their windshields in lipstick. I hate cars. They’re comfortable... but they’re not very nice. I thing there should be no-stalling laws. If we catch your car stalling, we will put a boot on it. And take your keys-- $500 to get your keys back. I feel like they should put a timer in every vehicle where if it’s running without moving for more than two minutes, it switches off....I really want to study film and zoology. I want to be a wolf specialist or a wild cat specialist, be the top person that people talk to when they make documentaries for National Geographic or Discovery. I can’t tell you how obsessed with wolves and big cats I’ve been since I was two. I like the school, I like the marine aspect... but I like the furry ones [better]. I have six cats. I thought for a while I was the person in the school with the most cats, but Erin has... AS: ...in the twenties. And two dogs, and two tortoises, and geckos-- she has a zoo... used to have two bunnies-LB:
...and cats.
AS: ...lots of cats. She lives in a house, not an apartment. LB: The wolves around Chernobyl-- the population is just huge, it’s like a playground for nature around there, and there are very few mutations... I really want to go there, even though you can’t touch anything. The other thing they’re doing in Russia is these experiments with domesticating foxes: they’re trying to figure out how it all works, how dogs got domesticated in the first place. It’s weird, they mate a calm fox with a calm fox and they get a wild one, who can’t be domesticated. That interests me-- how that can happen. And besides, foxes are really cute. What I’d love is to have a wolf-dog hybrid. Can’t have ‘em in New York, though. That’s OK. It’s too small-- and there are people who would take advantage of that, you’d have dog fighting. If I lived in the middle of Maine in the mountains, I would have a wolf, and he would be my best friend. Other than her. (points with her chin at Ashia) AS:
I want a monkey.
LB: Not me. I don’t want my face mauled by a monkey. I don’t hate them, but I don’t want to be near them. I’m gonna be eighteen in a little less than a year. My first tattoo’s gonna be a wolf, I think. Sounds really tacky, but it’s not going to be. And then an oyster. Hey, Pete should have an oyster tattoo! Here’s my message for Pete: The minute I turn eighteen, Pete, you should come get an oyster tattoo with me. And with that, the two future biologists went on their way.
Owl on the Sideboard Congratulates the Class of 2013!
Feature: Marine Biology Research Program
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Citizen Science Thrives at New York Harbor School
2013 Science Symposium Participants
Science Symposium Highlights Student Work by Mauricio González Governors Island-- On May 15, more than 45 science projects went on display for the Second Annual New York Harbor School Science Symposium. It was evident that the level of content and professionalism displayed by the presenting students was significantly improved from that of the previous year. A key factor for this year’s success was the addition of the judging component which raised the stakes, and the careful planning of the awards ceremony with our keynote speaker Chris Bowser (NYSDEC). We had over 15 adult judges comprised of parents, staff, and partners while our school administration provided key logistical support. In sum, the level of planning, teamwork, dedication, and volunteerism gave for a spectacular evening full of SYMPOSIUM SPIRIT!
Harbor SEALs Program Taps Into Students’ Love of Science and Their City by Mauricio González and Tiffany Smythe New York Harbor-- The Harbor Sea, Air and Land Voluntary Monitoring Program (the Harbor SEALs Program) brings together Citizen Scientists to monitor the health of the Hudson River Estuary and recuperate our natural heritage. Although New York Harbor water quality has improved notably since the implementation of the Clean Water Act nearly 40 years ago. Harbor waters continue to be of insufficient quality to support many resources and activities. As a result of pollutants from combined sewer overflows, storm water runoff, industrial activities, and other current and historic uses, Harbor waters are closed to shell fishing and most are classified as appropriate only for secondary–-contact recreation and fishing. These conditions have numerous negative impacts on New Yorkers, who have very few opportunities to fish, swim, surf and observe and interact with marine plants and animals. Arguably, this absence of opportunities to interact
with a healthy marine environment disproportionately impacts New Yorkers from lowerincome communities who cannot afford to escape to beaches and waterfront parks outside the city. This lack of access to clean marine waters likely exacerbates a cultural disconnect: many New York youth and adults do not embrace the Harbor and its natural resources, and are not aware of the variety of tools and strategies that may be used to protect and restore Harbor waters. The project’s objectives are: 1.
2.
3. 4.
Measure, monitor, and record water and air quality parameters in the Upper Hudson River Estuary to determine its suitability for marine life and human recreation, Determine how current dynamics affect water quality parameters at the Battery, East River, and West and East sides of Governors Island, Empower student citizen scientists with the necessary skills to take ownership of their environmental heritage to protect it, Disseminate the data collected on the World Wide Web for analysis and use by pertinent stake holders i.e. the New York Harbor School’s Oyster Restoration Project.
Information in this feature appears courtesy of the Harbor SEALs Blog. To learn more about the Marine Biology Research Program and to keep up to date with Harbor SEALs activities, visit harborseals.org
Harbor SEALs collect water samples on Governors Island. Water quality monitoring is sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
NYHS/New York Maritime Community Events Summer, 2013 Sunday
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Greenmarkets 1948: NYC: Jacob Lomakin, Soviet consul, expelled
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BG Greenmarket GI: NPS Artillery
SIF Greenmarket
GI: Vintage Baseball
August 1
2
3
BG Greenmarket 1942: Harlem: Race riots GI: NPS Artillery
SIF Greenmarket
8 GI: NPS Artillery
9
10
BG Greenmarket 2007: Bklyn/Queens: Tornado touches down
SIF Greenmarket
GI: Civil War Heritage Weekend
15
16
17
BG Greenmarket GI: NPS Artillery
SIF Greenmarket
GI: Jazz Age Lawn Party
22
23
24
BG Greenmarket GI: NPS Artillery 1776: British land
SIF Greenmarket
GI: Vintage Baseball GI: RECESS Bocce
27
28
29
30
31
Bowling G/SI Ferry Greenmarkets 1776: Battle of Brooklyn Heights
1965: Forest Hills: Bob Dylan booed for playing electric guitar
BG Greenmarket GI: NPS Artillery 1776: Washington retreats to Manhattan
SIF Greenmarket
GI: Vintage Baseball
GI indicates that an event takes place on Governors Island. For a complete listing of events on the Island, including repeated events, visit govisland.com