My Second Fishing Derby

I came back to All Access this Monday for Share the Harbor, and we had 544 people from camps, families, and friend groups come out to Spectacle Island. I dressed as a pirate and passed out the broadsheets to a majority of the people. This was all to give them a little bit of an introduction to Pirate history and our sea shanty "Haul Away Joe". We gathered a group of people to sing Haul Away Joe, and there was a dance group from Trinidad that really liked the song. After we taught, and sang a few verses from the song, they continued to sing it with a beat, and maracas. They were having a lot of fun and sang other songs like Little Einsteins, Who let the dogs out, and more.

On Tuesday, we came to Fan Pier at 7:00 for the annual fishing derby. During the fishing derby, people split into groups to see who can catch the biggest fish, and the greatest amount of fish. Kamal, Jordon, Abel, and I got onto the nicest boat in the whole tournament. It looked like a small dorm. It had a kitchen, a bedroom, a social area and more. Unfortunately, for the four hours we  fished we as a team caught one mackerel, while other teams caught an abundance of mackerel, and some caught large striped bass, up to 24 inches!

my Second fishing derby

After the fishing derby, we ate some food, talked amongst each other and eventually went home. It was a fun fishing derby and I am excited for the fishing derby next year! On the following Thursday, we were able to meet Nick Martin, a high ranked worker at Coca Cola and we were able to hear his story. He told us about how he moved up from the south to live in Lexington, eventually living by himself and how he made it into Dartmouth, an IVY league college. He told us about his ups and downs and how he made it to where he is today, and it was a motivational and inspiring story. I learned that I need to take advantages of all of my opportunities, and be surrounded by people that will help me better myself.

gathering to hear a motivational story

I came to MLK the next day, and it was kind of a roller-coaster half day if I say so myself. I started the day eating a lot of the free breakfast they had: cereal, orange juice or cranberry juice, muffins and more. Besides my coworkers, I also saw some people that live near me and some people that I go to school with. I caught up with them, and then we went to the main room where we heard a very emotional story from a kind man. It was about how he got to where he is today from an abusive, heroine addict father, gang violence, and the death of his brother. It was really sad, yet motivational because he showed us it is not too late to achieve our goals and dreams. After that we played some fun games with the founder of BrandMe, and we learned about the importance of a brand, logo, slogan, and how it presents you as a person. I finished the day off with some Raising Canes with a few coworkers, and reflected on how amazing this week.

Until Next Time
Qalid :)

Starting the Summer Strong!

fishing club

Well, we are a few weeks into our summer program, and I am having a lot of fun. This week I continued to do a  few of the same things, but also do somethings I have never done before. I started my week off at Camp Harbor View, and also spent a few days there over this course of time. On my other days, I continued to work at All Access Boston Harbor, at both Georges Island, and ending the week off at Spectacle Island. I even started to do a program on Fridays called MLK Scholars that I have never done before. It has been a pretty packed week so allow me to talk about my time at CHV.

At CHV, we did a variety of things. We mostly did the basic routine of three fishing groups, and lunch. We caught crabs, skates, and from time to time we caught some fish in the lobster trap! The kids at CHV love to fish, especially those that participate in fishing club. A young kid named Extouin told me about how he used to fish with his dad and his brother, and how he used to catch large bass and flounders and eat them for dinner. I was happy to hear that because at Save the Harbor we encourage people to enjoy the seafood they can obtain from the Harbor.

Scavenger hunt

On another we had a scavenger hunt where we told the kids to look for five mussels as a group. They quickly found them, and we ended up having a lot of mussel shells by the end of it. I learned how to throw a football without hurting my arm, and I schooled Dexter and Abel in basketball. Just kidding--we had a lot of fun, and Dexter was a lot better than I'd thought he would be.

For the rest of the week I did All Access, and toured the dark tunnel for the visitors, showed them the coffin, played some kickball or catch, and fished with all the families and camps that came. On Monday, we had a family day, and the families loved it so much. We sang Haul-Away Joe (led by Chris), and a young girl even made and told me her own verse! They loved it so much they donated to Save the Harbor and all of them said they would definitely come back.

Besides All Access and CHV, I got introduced to a biweekly, Friday event called MLK scholars at BU. They had their introduction with the CHV founder, a young MLK Scholar that sang and did spoken word, and a touching story from Mayor Marty Walsh. I even tried Raising Canes for the first time and it is absolutely amazing, if you have not tried it, I say try it ASAP; it is actually God's work. I will continue to go to Spectacle Island, and swim with David and the team. I'll let you guys know what's up next week, until then!

See ya, Qalid Hassan