Hannah Carlson, ’08, is from Warner, NH.
Hannah is a day student who loves
snowboarding. Outside of school she enjoys
competing in AKC agility trials. She is a member
of the winter Journalism class.
How do you survive seventy days on a schooner?
This was a question I have been asked almost every day since returning from Ocean Classroom ’08. My reply has merely been, it was scarier to reenter Proctor than it was fighting a 15 foot swell. This makes little since to someone who has never set foot aboard a 131 foot schooner. But as for me, this was just one of the everyday tasks we were faced with. This is how 40 Proctor students lived for 70 days. Adjusting to this wasn’t easy, but ask anyone of us, and we will tell you that is was simple compared to adjusting to life on shore.
How do you survive the normal world?
In past years it has been said that the transition from Ocean Classroom back into an ordinary classroom was one of the hardest transitions students have experienced. This didn’t quite seem possible so after having completed Ocean Classroom myself, I decided to investigate the theory.
After interviewing a number of people, it became evident that returning to school was by no means an easy transition. “I feel like I’m in a constant daze and I don’t know what to do with myself.” This was Will Trask’s comment after spending an hour of socializing in the Wise Center. “I feel like I should be doing homework, or sleeping, or being on watch... But the last thing I should be doing is relaxing. Not to mention, I feel extremely segregated, I have made tight bonds with the other nineteen people on my boat, but I feel really separated from everyone else, especially with all the new students; it’s very overwhelming.” Relaxing was an activity none of us had experienced for awhile, and having spent every moment with the same 31 people on board, it was hard to meet so many new students.
Questioning Tommy Slowthower-Minor about his eating habits, he replied, “The food on the boat was extremely good, and I ate much healthier than I have been since coming home. I grab food at Jake’s every free chance I get, rather than eat three meals per day, which were all very healthy” Eating on board kept us in shape and didn’t confuse our digestive tract.
I asked Jenny Galligan about the differences in classes. She responded, “The classes on the boat were easier and there were only two or three per day so there wasn’t a lot of homework, as long as you stayed caught up, and found an hour here or there you would be fine. However, on campus, we have four to five classes every day and way more homework than I can fit into only 2 hours of study hall. On campus, I’m so over worked. I’m not getting any more sleep now than I was on Ocean. It’s very stressful to be back on campus.”
Returning from Ocean is like starting at a whole new school in a whole new environment. It’s undoubtedly one of the hardest transitions. The lifestyles truly aren’t comparable and without having been on Ocean Classroom it is impossible to understand all of the amazing aspects involved with living on a boat. However, the aspects that are comparable were the homework load and class time, which didn’t take up the majority of the day. Also we had 3 times a day to eat and couldn’t just grab market food whenever we felt hungry. 131 feet of space, 70 days, 20 smelly students, 8 crazy crew members, 3 overwhelmed teachers, and 1 unforgettable experience.
