bird whisperer

While at BCM I  have had a lot of interactions with kids coming back multiple times to bonding with my co workers while eating lunch. We have even had interactions with a bird. These interactions are one of the many things that make my day while working at BCM. It's also like a special treat when the regulars show up since BCM is sometimes a ghost town. One of the best parts at BCM is teaching a kid to fish and see them get so happy. You help  guide them and really get invested sometimes,  even to the point where the time fly's by and next thing you know its lunch break or time to pack up.  Those moments are great and it brings life to the rest of the day for me. Whats even better is when the kid you've been helping and been fishing with them, catches there first fish, or crab. You know you've done a good job when the kids face explodes with glee. Now it is great and all when you have these types of interactions but none of them have been my best interactions. My best interaction was with a  bird we named Keko. Keko was a seagull that would swim around in the harbor and we would feed our left over squid bate too.
Eventually Keko stuck around and we started feeding him and making sure our pal was alright. Sadly Keko was attacked by a fellow Seagull and his wing was broken. We would see Keko try to  swim around while his wing was broken. We fed him and made sure he was happy but his wing never got better. One day I was going to get some water from the LL Bean dock since it was low tide and needed some for the touch tank. When I opened the gate, Keko was there.  His wing was still broken and he didn't look to good. At that point we had BCM call animal control to see if they could help him but they never showed up. We took care of  Keko until we had to leave. We gave him a lot of squid and played around with him. Sadly it was Friday and when we returned on Tuesday Keko wasn't there. I'd like to think that Keko's wing did heal and he flew away and was happy but that's unrealistic. Everytime we see a Seagull that looks like Keko, We name that  bird Keko with a random Number. Maybe one of those Keko's is the real Keko but who knows.
Either way
I'm sailing off
-Anthony M

work memories

Successful Fishing Days 

Having fun on self enrichment days and events 

Soaring to be a good example for staff and participants 

Bonding with coworkers and children 

Fishing Derby 2019

The beginning of a great summer began when I was offered the Senior Harbor Educator position at Save the Harbor/Save the Bay. On the first day of orientation I already had a premonition it was going to be an experience I would  never forget. The staff was outgoing, encouraging and welcoming to all the new members of the organization. Starting the day off at Spectacle Island put a great preview of what our days working would possibly look like. 

I was programmed at Boston Children's Museum, which I was thrilled for! I enjoy working with the pediatric population so I couldn't wait to begin teaching children about fishing. I met a lot of connections that I may find useful in my future endeavors. 

I also signed up to work the Revere Sand Castle event, where I saw Andres sand rake some beautiful art! If you have not visited the Revere Sand Castle event, you must put that on your bucket list! The sandcastles are breath taking! 

I really enjoyed creating these blogs every week, because it allows me to remember all the exciting adventures that took place with my amazing co workers and participants. To cap off a great summer working for Save the Harbor I would have to explain how much I enjoyed the fishing and boat trips we took as a team! 

On our first staff enrichment day, we got to kayak the Boston Harbor and clean the waters, collecting about ten bags of trash. That was great because I bonded with people who I don't usually see at my site. Our other staff day, we took a ride to Lovells island on the Belle. Man, do I love that belle boat, I will most definitely miss that in the winter time! At Lovells island we got to swim and hike with a partner or two, it was a relaxing Monday afternoon making memories with the summer staff. 

The highlight of the summer was the Fishing Derby, as a group we got divided into boats and had to catch the most fish and the largest fish to win the prize. Even though I didn't win the price it was a great time on a beautiful boat with kind mates showing us how to catch big stripers! We caught two stripers and twenty mackerel (bait fish)! 

Its been a fishing good summer! 

Crab ya later,

Kat

H2O facts

The Boston Harbor waters have come along way since 1950.

Studying the water quality is exceptionally important, there are four categories of water contaminants, those being physical, chemical, biological and radiological. If you kitchen faucet or shower head is contaminated with bacteria or viruses, you may be more prone to getting sick. 

My house in the suburbs of Chicago had a problem with lead back in the 1990's, it was due to the pipes being rotted but the problem was resolved and our waters have been safe to drink since then. 

The most common tests for water are coliform bacteria, E.coli, arsenic, hardness, lead/copper and etc. In the last decade the interest in home drinking water treatment products have expanded. Many chose to add a filtration system or drink out of water bottles. 

The most challenging issue with maintaining high water quality is the presence of chlorine based disinfectants that are added to the water supply to kill bacteria. Unfortunately, the water testing agencies have minimum knowledge of the side effects of disinfection byproducts in our water. On the bright side, Boston drinking water has tested low levels of disinfection chemicals. 

 

A grandma that brought her grandchildren to fish at Boston Children's Museum was explaining to us back in the 50's she would see ice skates, milk gallons, and the most random items in the Charles River. She really liked our mission of keeping the waters clean and going out on staff enrichment days to make an organization presence in the city. 

Crabs ya later, 

Kat

P.S. Fishing derby, what a striping fun time! 

Not the Crab, you want in your Krabby Patty!

Well we’re diving right back in to another blog. It’s Anthony and this week was my first week at the Boston Children’s Museum. A couple of exciting events happened this week from catching huge crabs and enormous fish to teaching kids how to fish like a professionals. Yet only learned about a week ago. Most of the week was very slow and not much was caught but it was still exciting meeting brand new kids! On Tuesday, the day started off normally  with slow activity from the crabs and people, it seemed it was gonna be like yesterday. Luckily that wasn’t the case,  out of no where a line we had pulled to our surprise. The rod started to bend and something tugged the line. When it got to the surface I couldn’t believe what I saw, a crab! Huge and hooked on the the rod. In comparison, this crab made the others look extremely tiny! This guy was at least 10 green crabs side by side. Right before it got above the water however, it let go and sank back to the bottom. This giant crab would be back. It turned out that the crab was a spider crab. Fully grown and scary looking, but that didn’t stop us from trying to get him again. Over and over again we all hooked the beast, but time and time again the beast evaded us. Even a net was brought out, to get him. But each time we tried, we failed.

 Fast forward through the day, it’s right after lunch. A man with his son come by to fish. By now the Harbor is at low tide or at least close to it. I thought the chances of catching the spider crab were slim, Too small and maybe if  the chances were small we would all give up. However when the man reeled the rod in, the rod bent a little and there was a little resistance. I had thought that maybe a small crab was on the line, but boy was I wrong. Right down there the beast rose up. I grabbed the net and was ready to catch. He would not get away this time, the hook was in the spider crabs mouth. He brought it up to where I could get it with the net and boom. The beast was caught, we finally got the beast. It was huge and scary. Like it’s name, it looked very much like a spider, but it was a crab. This was the catch of the week in my opinion and that’s saying something since we caught a big striper the same day. The reason the spider crab beats the striper in the catch of the week for me is how hard we all fought to catch the spider crab. Constantly hooking it but not catching it made it so when we did catch it, it had more meaning than the striper. Anyways, I’ll catch you later. It’s been reel.

-Anthony M

can't wait to cast with you

Hello, my name is Anthony Morgardo, I go to East Boston High School (EBHS) and live in Charlestown. I've played Trombone since 5th grade and I'm a current member of a youth group in Charlestown called Turn It Around. One thing I love is history and knowledge, as much as school is a pain for me, I like learning about some of the interesting things it has to offer. Now this brings me to Save the Harbor. Not only does learning new things like historical facts, fishing, and sea life interest me. I get to teach the kids that come by about the many things I've learned about.

Now what are some of the things, you ask?

 I have learned that I can teach the kids. Well first we have Spectacle Island. Spectacle Island is one of the harbor islands that had a pretty hard time. It went from a normal island, to a flat piece of land because it was dug out,  to a trash dump, to a big ball of fire for 10 years, and then covered back over with dirt. Back to a normal looking island. Insane how something like that happened. Today Spectacle Island is full of wildlife and is one of the most well known harbor islands. Another subject is sea life and fishing. The harbor is home to many fish and crabs. One fish that is common to find is the flounder. Flounders are flat fish with a brownish top and a white bottom.

Hope to see you out on the Harbor!

Anthony

Harboring through History

Well we start off on the Fort Point Channel. We kayak around looking for trash floating in the harbor. Not to brag but I was 100% the fastest one out there. While being the fastest kayaker in existence I also picked up some trash along the way. A used cup, a ball, and a plastic wrapper. I didn't pick up mu
ch but I also pointed out some area's that were riddled with trash. When we returned to the dock, I ended up shocked seeing that we had multiple bags full of trash. I knew there was garbage floating around in the harbor but I didn't expect there to be so much. Someone even found a needle. All this trash reminded me of what it was like back in the 50's and 60's where the harbor was so dirty and filled with trash that you could walk across it. Which when I say walk across it, I don't mean a bridge. I mean across the water. Anything you could think of was dumped into that harbor. I wouldn't be surprised if somehow an entire house is in that harbor.

Thankfully a Sewage Treatment Plant was made on Deer Island which cleaned the waters. Many other things like this very organization being formed and the help from the community's of Boston cleaned the Harbor from one of the worst harbors in the USA to one of the cleanest. Although we now are one of the cleanest Harbors in the USA. That doesn't mean that we don't continue to clean it.

As we all saw on the Fort Point Channel Kayaking trip. There was bags full of trash and it only took us about an hour to get that much in a small area. If that much trash is picked up in a small area just over the course of an hour. Then think about the whole harbor. Its still our duty to clean this harbor.

Anyways sailing off,
-Anthony M.

in a world of algorithms, hashtags, and followers know the true importance of human connection.

"Recognize that every interaction you have is an opportunity to make positive impact on others"

-Shep Hyken 

Art group came fishing! 

This summer has been filled with new friendships and connections, I have been working at the Boston Children's Museum every week day with the exception of staff enrichment days since early July. It has been a blast bonding with the SHSB high school and college student staff. I've learned a lot of "lingo" and they took me down memory lane of the good ole high school days. Interacting with them, asking questions and giving them advice for future endeavors made me feel like I was impacting them in positive manner, I hope they remember my advice of "always go the extra mile in life in, whatever you do". 

One of my personal favorite activities was the vocabulary game. When the Junior Program Assistants were teaching kiddos about the crabs or fish in our touch tank, I provided the JPA with a random vocabulary word like telephone" and they had to use the word in a sentence but still make it relevant. 

Anthony "These crabs came from far away in Europe, they were only a telephone call away. 

This activity gave them something to laugh about but more importantly broaden their vocabulary. 

Leo & Oliver
Leo caught a striper! 

We have had two sets of "regulars" kiddos, they come to us once or twice a week. It was heartwarming to know that they appreciated and enjoyed that we offered free Fishing 101, which included how to fish, parts of the fishing rod, and learning about the marine life caught in our touch tank.  

I got to work a little boy, (five years old) that came here once or sometimes twice a week in hopes of catching a big fish. One morning, we saw minnows being chased and we drop casted the line, moments later there was a striped bass on the line. He was extremely ecstatic! I was walking in my neighborhood one day, and I saw the mom and the boys, they stopped me and couldn't stop talking about how excited they were about the fish catch. 

In a world of accessible technology, I'm grateful that I was able to work for Save the Harbor and educate children on fishing and the Boston harbor. The kids will have stories to tell their friends and teachers when school starts, have fun memories on the harbor, and hope will love the water enough to keep it clean! 

Staff Day

Lifetime Memories

Hey Harbor Savers, 

We have finally completed the 8th week and I am so sad that the end is near. I have created a small family at Save The Harbor and it will be sad to leave in the end because some of my new friends do not live in the state or in the Boston city :(. However, we’ve made enough memories for a lifetime so I’m not too worried. Last week we had a staff day at Lovell's Island and spent the day at the beach we played kickball and swam at the beach, which was freezing cold by the way. 

If I could describe my summer in one word it would be incredibly impossible to do so. I have made memories this summer that I would not trade for anything in this world. I’ve had the opportunity to become apart of something much greater than me and continue to serve my community and our planet in a positive motion! To be able to share my experiences with others is a gift within itself. Out of all my blogs,

I would not include anything else because I’ve told everything about my day’s the way I lived them. To think I was struggling to find a job this summer some time ago in a distant memory to me now, in the present time I am happy and full of excitement for each new day at Save The Harbor.

This is my message to you; Try new things without fear of not fitting in because there will always be room. 

Sincerely,

Jay Gomez 

My Personal Experience at This point

Hello again for the 7th time! (I think)

So for most of the summer, I have been talking about the water quality, the animals, the pollution and many other things that have to do with the Harbor. However, I haven't talked much about what I've been doing at the harbor and the sites I have been at. I believe it's now necessary to talk about what I've been doing at my site!

I've been at CHV also known as Camp Harbor View for the past 2 weeks or so. Honestly, I have to say it's the most fun site to be at, especially when you have a group like mine. They know how to bring the entertainment and keep me occupied when we're not working either. On top of that, the workload is definitely not too challenging, the kids seem excited to fish and chat with all of us. If you're wondering what we exactly do at CHV, we pretty much teach kids how to fish and show them crabs, lobsters and fish. It's the usual only you stay with a certain group of kids every day. It's not that different in comparison to the other sites, but its simplistic and easy for everyone.

Camp Harborview Save the Harbor team with the Mayor

But that's for CHV. I've also been working events throughout the summer with other Coworkers. The ones I have worked are on weekends and usually we have fish printing, coloring, a touch tank, and many more things. I've worked around 3 or 4 events during this summer and they have all been a fun time. I remember my first event at Hull where they had a fire show, the illumination of the beach, as well as the beautiful sunset to top it all off. The second event as the one by the seaport at the seafood festival. I handed out tickets to people by scanning those who already had paid prior to the event. Then I handed out water bottles to those who were tired and thirsty at the event. The third event was last Sunday, where we just had a touch tank and coloring for the kids. It was a really friendly event and really fun for the most part!

This is just half of all the stuff I've done over the summer. However, it was definitely necessary to write about because people need to know what I've been doing with my summer. It's been really fun and I can't wait to enjoy the rest of it with everybody else!

Oh buoy! Can't wait to get back into work

We Need to Help What's Left of Right Whales

          This was another fun week on the harbor. We had some interesting catches at Camp Harborview this week, two 12.5” winter flounder were caught in our crab traps! It was a really surprising sight to see when we check the traps in the morning. This provided us with excellent opportunities to teach about the history of Boston Harbor, its clean-up, and how organisms were affected when it was heavily polluted. Some of the other campers were more focused on catching seaweed than fish!

One of our trapped flounder!

Campers pose with their catch!

Since this week we get to talk about what we felt was missing from our blogs, I decided to write about some charismatic megafauna. These animals often get a lot of coverage in the media, but we rarely get a chance to work with them. I decided to focus on my favorite whale and the state marine mammal of Massachusetts, the North Atlantic right whale. This whale is endangered with just over 400 individuals left in the wild. Their namesake is owed to whalers who claimed they were the “right” whales to hunt for oil. They were important in establishing the whaling industry in Massachusetts, however, this practice along with new challenges leaves the whales in peril.

Right whales are baleen whales, which means they have specialized sieve-like structures in their mouth that they use to filter out seawater and swallow whatever organisms they caught. Right whales, along with other baleen whales, feed on a variety of organisms from zooplankton to krill to small fish. 

During the prime of the whaling industry, hundreds of large ships called New Bedford their home and would set off on long voyages from there in hopes of harpooning a large right or sperm whale. Right whales provided materials for many commodities in the 18^thand 19^thcenturies. Their blubber would be rendered into oil that would be used primarily for lighting lamps and making soap. The baleen was used for a myriad of different products, from corsets to umbrellas. Even though whaling focus was eventually switched from the right whale onto the sperm whale, due to the valuable waxy secretion from the spermaceti organ, the damage had been done to the North Atlantic right whale populations. 

Close-up of a North Atlantic right whale

Breaching right whale

Although a lot of legislation was passed to protect marine mammals, these whales still face many challenges. The North Atlantic right whale has low calving rates and low numbers, so the species population grows very slowly. Shipping lanes often interfere with the migratory routes of these whales and collisions between ships and whales often occur. Whales have been known to get tangled in commercial fishing gear which can cause premature mortalities. Now, global climate change further threatens these animals by altering where and how much food is available for these whales. Hopefully, improvements to shipping lane regulations, fishing regulations, and climate change legislation are passed to help these creatures rebound. 

This week will be a bittersweet one. We get to go on a fishing trip with the fishing club, but Camp Harborview is ending, meaning we are nearing the end of summer and the beginning of classes. We still have a little bit of time left programming in the harbor, and I plan on enjoying every second of it!

Tight Lines!

-Michael 

Water a Summer !

My summer at Save the Harbor/Save the Bay has been such a different experience in comparison to last year, in a completely good way. I have met new people and have had experiences I wouldn't have had if I stayed at other sites. Being stationed at CHV has been one of the highlights of the summer, all of July was a BLAST. One of the parts of being stationed at Camp Harbor View was being able to first-hand experience what the camp had to offer to kids. When I was younger I would always hear stories about how great Camp Harbor View was and it would make me jealous of all the kids who attended this camp when I was younger. But now I got to see first hand what the kids in my old school were talking about, how beautiful the view of Boston looks! At my time at CHV I was also able to visit the locations around the island! I was able to see the rocky beaches and find beach glass! Even on the fishing trip, I was able to see think the old abandoned buildings at the site, which was extremely creepy to me, but I would love to visit them in possible. I've heard the stories about what CHV used to be back in the day and it always peaks my interest in them. I also found a heart shaped rock at CHV which I thought was really cool.

I've made so many fun memories this summer and coming to work does not feel like a chore, in other jobs going to work is so boring, but I'm always looking forward to Monday when I get to see all my smiling coworkers and the kids at my site. It is always a great way to start off the week. During my second year at Save the Harbor, I was able to meet a bunch of new people and show them how things are done at the job. I was also able to reconnect the existing relationships I had with my friends from last year! Meeting the kids has also been a blast.One specific memory that really stood out to me was what one young boy by the name Solomn told me, he wanted to work for Save the Harbor/Save the Bay when he was of age. This specific line really touched my heart and it stayed with me for a while. This has definitely been the top moment of my summer and makes want to continue working at Save the Harbor for years to come. Til next time- Albert!

Best Summer Ever

Hello! Welcome back to my last and final blog of the summer. This week was great! On Monday we had a staff day and went to Lovells Island. It started it off with a game of kickball (my team won!) and then we all separated in groups to explore the island. I chose to go to the beach and later on look at the dead whale that washed up not too long ago.

The Dead Whale

I don’t know what I was expecting when I saw it but what I witnessed was definitely unexpected. And it smelt HORRIBLE! If you think our bait smells bad just smell that whale! WHEW! I can never forget it! The rest of the week was normal as usual. We were supposed to go on a fishing trip later on in the week but the boat, the Belle, broke. (Get well soon Belle!) . Then twice this week we caught flounders in one of our crab traps, which is something I never expected to happen! 

My other family

Unfortunately, this will be my last week with Save the Harbor this summer. Bummer, I know!  Save the Harbor is by far the best job I could ever have! Not many people are lucky enough to be able to work and truly enjoy their job, but I was. Save the Harbor allowed me to do new things that I would’ve never done before. If you told me a year ago that I would’ve gone kayaking, learned to fish, or pick up crabs, I would’ve thought you were crazy. I would’ve never thought that a city kid like me would ever get the chance to be trying out new things that I thought only rich people had access to; getting paid for it is another plus factor. 

Working here not only was a great new learning experience, but I’ve created another family. Saying bye to everybody is going to suck, but I will never forget the memories we created this summer; such as fishing trips, staff days, numerous amounts of card games during our free time and the unlimited amounts of laughs and stories we shared. I am going to miss this job very deeply and never forget the people that I’ve met through it. 

Hopefully I’ll “sea” you next summer,

Stephanie

Final week of first year

  Hey everyone, Aidan back again for the last time this summer. I had a great time working here at Save the Harbor Save the Bay, but I'll hopefully be back next summer. School starts for me next week, another one hundred and eighty days of my life, but it will also be my last year of high school. The week was full of surprises at my new location, Piers Park. It's a complicated route to get to from where I live, but it is SO worth it.

On Monday, I had a great time at Lovells Island, swimming in the ocean and observing a dead whale carcass. On Tuesday, my first day of a new location had already ended a week earlier, giving me a free day off. On Wednesday, I got to actually work again at Piers Park, which was basically a "copy/paste" of my experience at Blacks Creek, plus more kids. Piers Park isn't as infested with crabs as Blacks was though. The location happens to be straight away from where my dad works, across the harbor. The kids at Piers are about the same as the kids from Blacks Creek, and there's a handful of kids who act and behave the same way too. Overall, the kids mean well and love to explore during the summer time.

  

A familiar game of everybody's it

It bugs me to let go of the many friends I've made at SHSB this summer, and I'm going to lose my  tan as the indoor season approaches, but I am looking forward to doing things again next summer. I've never worked a real job before this, but I can already tell no job is going to be as fun as this one. Being able to spend nearly everyday outside is the whole focus of a great summer, and this was no different. Winter time is gonna be different when I'm not holding a hot-headed crab up to a kid, and when I'm not basking in the ocean water at Spectacle when we go. I can't wait to relive those great moments on Boston Harbor. If I had to pick one thing I'd miss the very most while I was working at Save the Harbor, Save the Bay, it's going to have to be eating J Pace's delicious hashtag breakfast sandwich along the water, overlooking Boston Harbor.

Anyways, that's all I have to say for this summer's last blog, so as always,

Until next summer,

Aidan.

Kids fishing off the dock with hot dog bait.

Week 8: Piers Park 5ever

Hello everyone,

       Week 8 already? Sad to say this is my last blog post since move-in day is coming REALL soon. I can't stress enough how much I’m going to miss this job! Honestly. This past week had to be the most simple week ever. Sadly, I missed Staff Day on Monday at Lovells Island, then on Tuesday the Piers Park Gang went to Courageous for no reason because the week before was the last week of programming. Haha, oops! On Wednesday at Piers, we did our usual fishing and taught a lesson on how sea animals adapt in the ocean! Thursday was same as usual and Friday was the Beach Bash,  which was so fun. It was my first Beach Bash and to see everyone having an amazing time made me sad that I missed out on so many.

        To be completely honest this summer job had to be one of my favorite summer jobs ever! The past couple summers I always worked in an office and was kept inside an AC building with no access to sunlight, but not this summer! I was out on a dock at Piers Park helping kids learn to fish. I learned so many facts about the Harbor, the Harbor islands, crabs, adaptations, and so much more. This summer my skin complexion changed by A LOT thanks to this job and being outside every day! Sadly, I am going to become pale all over again in the winter--haha! I am certainly going to miss all the funny kids that I have encountered at Piers. The kids there had to be one of the best parts! They were so loving and adorable, even though some had some trouble following the simplest directions because at that age (6-9) kids have the attention span of an ant!

        In all, I am so grateful I got the chance to experience such a fun summer and really hope to come back next year! This job was everything I expected it to be and THEN SOME! Working with the few people I did have a chance to work with was awesome! They’re all such smart and fun individuals that I hope I stay in touch with for a long time! The memories that came from this job are memories that are going to last forever.

        Hope to see many of you again next year,
          Fatima Fontes :)

Saving the world, one fish at a time

Welcome back!

A sand flower I made at the
Revere Sand Sculpture Festival

     It seems like there are no normal weeks anymore, but I'll never complain about that. This Monday was staff day, which we spent at Lovells Island! All of the SHSB staff are great people, and I loved spending a day just hanging out on the beach with them. We found a dead whale on the beach, which sounded pretty cool at first, but as we got closer we realized that the whale had been decomposing for several months, which was really gross and smelled horrible. Luckily our spot on the beach was very far away, but despite all of that it was still interesting to look at. Tuesday was a bit of a mix-up on our end: Courageous didn't need us this week, but we went anyways and ended up going straight home. Wednesday was a normal day at Piers Park, with a Jeopardy!-themed lesson about harbor facts. Some of the kids didn't fully understand the rules, but they still had fun answering questions and learning stuff. Thursday was similar, but with no lesson. Friday was a complete change of pace, as we went to the Beach Bash at Carson Beach! We had a ton of fun stations for the kids, including fishing, kayaking, sports, and I got to run the sand raking station! Sand raking is a form of art in which people draw on the sand with rakes. I had some practice from my time working with Andres Amador at the Sand Sculpture Festival this year, which helped a lot when teaching kids how to draw what they wanted.

     This week, unfortunately, is my last full week this summer working at Save the Harbor. So, I wanted to take this blog in a slightly different direction than usual, to focus on one of the core reasons I work at Save the Harbor: environmentalism. Over the past few years, I've learned more and more about the importance of the natural world, between the research I do and the increasing amount of news articles describing imminent natural catastrophes. I've taken individual steps to lower my carbon footprint: I don't eat meat, I have reusable cutlery, and I don't buy single-use plastic water bottles, to name a few. That's nice and all, but if only a small minority of the population takes these steps there won't be much of a change. This is why my job is so important to me on a personal level. There won't be much change from my work now, but if I can help a future generation understand the importance of the natural world that goes so far beyond what my individual actions to that they become incomparable. Even if the kids I work with only walk away with one happy memory of fishing, or one thing they learned during lessons, that's one step closer to realizing how important it is to keep the world the way it is.

Song of the Week: Come Hang Out by AJR

SotW compilation playlist

See you next time,

~Colin McRae

Lobsters, Beaches, and Fun!

Hello everyone!

Atticus, a Piers Park frequent visitor, at the Fort Point Festival with us!

This past week was an eventful one with me traveling all around Boston for various activities and programming. Monday was a special day because we had our Staff Day at Lovells Island. I had never been to Lovells before, so it was really awesome to get to explore! Something that was super cool to see is a dead whale that remains on the north end of the island. It’s decaying body has been there for several months if not over a year, so its smell was quite fragrant. And not in a good kind of way! We played kickball, walked around and explored, ate lunch, and swam on the beach. There was a cool tunnel that led to the beach, which was very picturesque as well. What a day!

Wednesday and Thursday we did our normal programming at Piers Park. On Thursday we did a fun lesson that we originally planned for Courageous, but worked well with these kiddos. We taught a Jeopardy lesson that included fun facts about fishing, Harbor history, and species that live in Boston Harbor. The kids seemed to have a great time and learned a lot, which was great!

Friday, we were at Carson Beach for the last beach bash of the summer. We had the usual kayaking, fishing, swimming, sports, with added activities like sand raking and sand castle making. Many hot dogs were eaten and fun was had!

Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn at the Fort Point Festival!

On Sunday, I worked the Fort Point Festival with Tia, Kamal, and Jasmine, by the Fort Point Channel. We had a touch tank with a rock crab and a lobster, and had some broad sheets and coloring papers. It was a fun event, with lots of different food vendors giving out free samples of food and musicians and even a petting zoo! The petting zoo was right by us--with goats, a sheep, a pig, chickens, ducks, and bunnies. Hard to compete with so many cute baby animals, but luckily there were a handful of kids that were very excited to see our lobster and crab! One young toddler refused to leave our touch tank and kept saying, "Lobster! Lobster! Lobster!" It was very cute. Another toddler had the opposite reaction, and freaked out at the sight of the lobster, screaming and running away from us... Oops! It was a lovely event and Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn stopped by to say hi. Despite the heat, we had a good time!

Catch you next time,
Kaya

Family Made :)

Jay Here with the reel of the week! 

Insert Brianna lol!

    It has been 5 weeks at Boston Children's Museum where happiness is in abundance even in Boston’s bipolar weather. The team and I have continued to do our part in cleaning out the harbor every time we see trash floating by our rods and encouraging the kids to do the same. This week brought many laughs and memories with the BCM crew and the families we’ve met from around the world. We now how families that come by more times during the week just to fish with us and catch crabs which are awesome in my books. During the week I surprised myself with the quickest catch I think in BCM history! As soon as I dropped the line into the water I caught a fish I reeled it up and shock and amazement were written on all of our faces. 

    As much as I love fishing and picking up crabs what I find important is the connections we make individually with the kids we meet and their families. I always strive to leave a lasting impression on the people I meet but they always end up leaving an impression on me. When we get tourists from different countries and theirs a language barrier we still manage to understand each other through our body language and actions. At BCM we get a lot of Spanish speaking families and Portuguese speaking families which could be hard to navigate. I can speak and understand Spanish and a bit of Portuguese, this makes for fun conversations with kids and parents when we try to express what we are trying to say. 

There's Brianna!

    When people understand each other despite their differences it makes for a great vibe and that's how it is with my Team. I’m a naturally outgoing person so when we start at children’s I wanted to make everyone feel comfortable but there was no need because we all instantly connected. Our S.H.E. is Kat and our L.H.E. is Brianna and they’re are awesome they tie our group together and make sure we’re all having a good time and learning along the way. There is huge mutual respect between all of us which I like. Well, it’s time for week 6, I challenge you to make new friendships/relationships with people and work together to understand your differences. 

Nothing but a snap and a point!

Till next time, 

Jay Gomez 

Our Boston Waters

What's up Harbor Savers, 

We have successfully completed week 7! What an exciting week for me, this week I went on 3 boat trips and one of them landed me on the news and the Boston Globe! Although I have a love and hate relationship with boats and the ocean I can admit I had a blast during the annual Fishing Derby. My group (Shout out OB Tigers) ended up winning the contest 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place, girl power to the max!! Besides the fishing trips, the crew and I at BCM have also had an interesting week. With one of our crew members leaving us for college we made sure to make the final days count, with many laughs and new memories like catching an eel from the harbor to dropping equipment accidentally into the water only for us to almost fall in trying to get it back. 

Growing up in the beautiful city of Boston a lot can say they grew up going to our urban beaches for me that would be Carson Beach and Revere beach. Swimming for any kid in the city was always something to do for the summer at beaches. Until I started this job I had no clue what the water quality was in the past and how dangerous it was to swim in our beaches. Water quality is highly important not only for us to have fun in our city but for marine life to flourish and expand. Dangerous bacteria can foster in our waters due to pollution in the Harbor. Well, it is 2019 and the water quality in our urban city has placed water quality test in the last couple of years. Through the last couple of decades, many efforts have been made to improve the quality of the water in the harbor. Save The Harbor Save the bay has hopped on these examinations in 2011. 

Boston is ten times better when you can enjoy its urban beaches but to be able to keep enjoying them we must continue to act as a community and individuals when it comes to pollution and what we can do to prevent the trash from falling in! So will you step up?

Sincerely, 

Jay Gomez 

Children's Museum Fun!

Hello again dear reader! It's been about 4 weeks since programming has started and I'm relocated to a new site! Although I was at this site for most of last year, it's really a different experience when there's new staff members. I'm really happy to be at this site nonetheless and it's pretty cool what we were able to catch this week! I also caught my first crab ever on the line and I was super excited about that accomplishment. The stripe bass that my coworker Anthony was able to catch was even more amazing and surprisingly random it was funny witnessing it. The Children's museum site has a warm environment and it's fun to be there with all the activity coming from the museum itself.

                                              

                                                    My first caught crab!

The stripe bass that Anthony caught

I really enjoy spending time at the touch tank to educate the kids about sea life. Teaching them the crabs that live in our waters and being able to distinguish their gender is nice and their reactions show that they actually understand what they're learning. I enjoy teaching these kids. Interacting with the kids is fun and not hard, it's actually so much easier than with an adult. Also teaching them about patience as fishing requires a lot of patience and focus is important a rewarding when they actually catch something.

Another thing I've found helpful is taking to my LHE about future college plans and the stresses and freedom that comes with growing up. Rising to my final year at high school feels like a really big step into the real world and to be quite honest it frightens me; I feel as though time is moving so fast and I haven't caught up with it yet. I don't know if I'm ready or just have to go with the flow. But it's also nice to remind myself that no one really ever knows what they're really doing just as long as it's what makes them happy. 

I like the JPAs at my site. They're nice and inviting and make it better to be at the site. I'm able to share laughs with all of them and we eat together, it feels like a little family. I'm happy to be at my site and it's great to be back!

Ps. My goal is to catch one stripe bass myself I don't care how long it has to take, that stripe bass will be mine!

See you again!

Carrie Monge

Family

Hey everyone!

I want to start off my blog by reflecting on the impending close of the summer and sadly my last week at SHSB. But first...a recap of the past week out at Spectacle Island and the incredibly fun staff day we all enjoyed out on Lovell's Island.  We kicked off the morning with a heated game of kickball that resulted in a controversial loss handed out by the No-Access squad. From there we all went to cool down by the water and despite the initial trepidation to enter the frigid Boston waters, almost everyone ended up going in! We ate lunch, listened to music, talked, napped, sunbathed, and everything in between, making for a relaxing staff day. 

As I sat out on the island, I took some time to look around and reflect at how fortunate we all were to be spending the day out in the Boston Harbor with great coworkers that quickly turned into great friends. Entering the job I was pretty nervous given my lack of extensive knowledge regarding marine life and environmentalism but everyone, no matter the age, whether it was JPA's, LHE's, or SHE's, all assured me everything would be just fine. And they were right! Due to the supportive, encouraging, and knowledgeable staff at SHSB, I have not only learned a tremendous amount about marine life and increased my environmental awareness, but I have also made some great friends in the process and some unforgettable memories. It's hard to believe the summer is coming to a close already and everyone will be starting up with school again. We will be trading in fishing rods for pens and pencils, tackle boxes for back packs, and the warm summer spent outdoors for the cold winter season spent in the library. 

Quote for the week- "Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them." 

-James Baldwin

SEA YA LATER,

Alex