Gundalow Company takes top award for marine education from Tall Ships America
Portsmouth NH – At its recent annual conference in Boston, Tall Ships America – the national organization for hundreds of educational sail training vessels – awarded the Gundalow Company its coveted Sea Education Award for “excellence in education programs under sail”. In the five years since Portsmouth-based non-profit Gundalow Company launched The Piscataqua – a reproduction of the gundalows that were the workhorses of the Seacoast waterways for hundreds of years – thousands of school children from 46 different schools throughout the region have been out on the water to learn about sailing, maritime history, and marine ecology of the waterways in their back yards.
“The Gundalow Company is one of the most serenely successful vessel organizations in operation today. Their programs onboard PISCATAQUA are a wonderful fusion of history, heritage, and environmental stewardship”, says Captain Dan Moreland, a long-time member of TSA and Founder of PICTON-CASTLE, a 180-foot square-rigged tall ship. “A sail on the PISCATAQUA lets students of all ages experience the local waterways and make connections between the region’s past, present, and future.”
“We are really honored to be in the company of much bigger educational sailing vessels like the Hudson River’s Clearwater Sloop and long-time international sail expedition schools like Sea Semester”, says Gundalow Executive Director Molly Bolster about receiving the TSA education award. “We know we’re running a meaningful program from all the feedback we get from teachers and students, but it’s gratifying to get this “seal of approval” from our national association”.
In addition to providing thousands of students with hands-on experience, the Gundalow Company has held workshops for dozens of teachers so they can integrate maritime history and marine ecology lessons in the classroom. For Kate Sheldon, a fifth grade teacher at Kittery’s Shapleigh Middle School, the Gundalow field trip is a favorite. “I have brought classes the past four years and each year I learn something new and the kids walk away with such a deep understanding of their place in both the seacoast watershed and the greater environment in general”. She adds “It’s amazing to me to hear the kids’ excitement about what they’ve learned and seen – for some of them it’s the first time they’ve been out on a boat!”
Last year, the organization started a summer camp program called River Rats, which is expanding this year with six weeks of programs for kids in every age group. The camps combine on-the-water adventures with shore-side activities, making them both educational and fun. More information about the Gundalow’s education programs, summer camps, as well as public sails and private charters, is available at www.gundalow.org.
Molly Bolster, Executive Director of the non-profit Gundalow Company, accepts the Sea Education Award at the Tall Ships America national conference in Boston in February.
The Gundalow Company is a non-profit organization whose mission is to protect the Piscataqua Region’s maritime heritage and environment through education and action. Programs, held throughout the tidal towns of the Piscataqua, connect history with contemporary social issues such as water quality, habitat restoration, conservation and stewardship. Many programs take place on the flagship vessel the Piscataqua, a reproduction of the sailing barges that were used for hundreds of years to transport goods up and down the rivers of the Seacoast region. Learn more at www.gundalow.org.
