All Aboard to Georges Island

This week, All Access Boston Harbor headed out for three beautiful days on Georges Island. I joined in on the fun on Tuesday, and played some kickball on the field in the center of Fort Warren. It was a busy day on the island, with 441 youth and teens taking part in the All Access program, and hundreds more on Georges Island with other camp groups!

Groups who took part in the program this week came from East Boston, South Boston, Chinatown, Dorchester, Jamaica Plain, Mission Hill, Roxbury, the South End, Lawrence, Somerville, Quincy, Hyde Park, Revere, Billerica, Waltham, Roslindale, and Charlestown.

Next week we will return to Spectacle Island, where we will definitely take advantage of the beautiful summer weather we’ve been having by swimming at the beach!

If you are interested in bringing your youth group or organization out on a free trip to the Boston Harbor Islands this summer, please send me an email at Gaylord@savetheharbor.org  or give me a call at 617-451-2860 x1008!

-Amy Gaylord

Busy First Week!

Happy Friday! As the first full week of programming comes to a close, I feel more optimistic and excited than ever for the weeks still to come. Our team is working together well, embracing new learning opportunities, and experiencing new things! 

This week's Menino Leadership Forum guest speaker, Paul Burton,
 told Scholars to "dream big, and act now".

I spent this morning at the first John Hancock MLK Summer Scholars Friday workshop of the summer. The workshops, now called Mayor Menino Leadership Forums, take place every other Friday during July and August, and provide an opportunity for all 650 Summer Scholars to get together. This summer’s Forums are paired with Everfi’s Commons curriculum, which centers on civics and civic engagement. To complete the Everfi course, Scholars will write an Op-Ed piece on an issue affecting their community—and one Scholar’s piece will be chosen and published in the Boston Globe! This is just one way in which the Hancock MLK Summer Scholars program provides amazing opportunities for the teens taking part in the program.

Andrea spends time with Woburn YMCA campers.

I also spent this Tuesday on Spectacle Island for the first day of the All Access Boston Harbor program. We brought 358 youth and teens from six different organizations in Braintree, Dorchester, East Boston, Jamaica Plain, and Chinatown out with us on the Provincetown II for an afternoon of fishing, kickball, beach combing, and swimming. I look forward to greeting groups from many more neighborhoods as the summer continues—seven more weeks of All Access to go!

-Amy Gaylord

Happy Summer!

Hello everyone, and happy summer! My name is Amy Gaylord, and I am a full-time staffer at Save the Harbor/Save the Bay. One of my main responsibilities at the office is preparing and planning for the youth environmental education program, which means that I look forward to summer all year long! This will be my second summer at Save the Harbor, and I am excited to say that our staff this year is better than ever—ready to share the harbor with youth and teens from all over Greater Boston. 

Our busy orientation week concluded today after an engaging storytelling workshop with storyteller Norah Dooley, a fun-filled trip to Georges Island with harbor historian David Coffin, and plenty of time to get to know each other as a staff. This summer we have a large number of returning Senior Harbor Educators, Lead Harbor Explorers, and Junior Program Assistants ready to share their knowledge and experience with new members of the team. 

I look forward to getting the program underway at all of our sites, new and old, this summer—including All Access Boston Harbor, my main outreach responsibility! I book groups on the weekly trips to Spectacle, Georges, and Peddocks Islands, making sure that youth groups from different neighborhoods have the chance to experience the Boston Harbor Islands during the summer. 

If you work with a youth organization that would like to take advantage of this free opportunity, reach out to me for more information by email or phone: Gaylord@savetheharbor.org or 617-451-2860 x1008.  Looking forward to a great summer on the harbor!

All Access Heads to Georges Island

Yesterday on All Access Boston Harbor we hit our highest number of guests on the boat so far this summer—464 children and chaperones!  I’m so glad we decided to trust the weather to hold up, because it turned out to be a beautiful day on Georges Island.  We had groups from Dorchester, Waltham, Roslindale, Hyde Park, Somerville, and Chinatown. 

Many groups spent the afternoon exploring historic Fort Warren, searching for signs of the Lady in Black, and getting spooked in the “dark tunnel”.  The Save the Harbor team split up to facilitate fishing, kickball, and exploring the fort. 

On the boat ride home, we all got a neat surprise—we cruised past the Charles W. Morgan, a historic whaling ship.  The ship sailed to Boston from Provincetown, making her 38^th voyage.  The Charles W. Morgan will be docked in the Charlestown Navy Yard until the 22^nd!

The Charles W. Morgan sailing in Boston Harbor

Today we had to cancel All Access due to thunderstorms and showers that have seemed to last all day.  All of us here at Save the Harbor are looking forward to tomorrow’s Fan Pier Fishing Tournament, and hoping for some sun!

See you on the harbor,

Amy Gaylord

All Access Week One: Off to a Great Start!

As the first full week of the 2014 summer youth program comes to an end, I am looking forward to all that is still to come in the next seven weeks!  This week I was able to participate in the All Access Boston Harbor trips on Tuesday and Thursday, and I had a really great time.  It was amazing to see all of this spring’s hard work and preparation come together to produce a great program.  Groups from Dorchester, Lynn, Saugus, Roxbury, Roslindale, East Boston, South Boston, Winthrop, Brookline, and Charlestown joined us on three different trips to Spectacle Island this week.  The weather was hot and sunny, perfect for fishing, playing kickball, and taking a swim at the beach—which is exactly what I did on Tuesday and Thursday!

Playing kickball on Spectacle Island

On the first morning of the program, I asked a group of kids from the South Boston Boys & Girls Club if they were excited to get out on the harbor, and one boy replied, “what’s the harbor?”—this exchange proved to me once again how important it is that we bring children from Boston’s neighborhoods and surrounding towns to experience the harbor and the Boston Harbor Islands firsthand.  The enthusiasm with which so many children participated in fishing, crabbing, and kickball this week was a great reassurance that All Access Boston Harbor is doing exactly what we hope it does—getting kids to explore and enjoy the marine environment, and to learn and experience new things outdoors and on Boston Harbor and the Boston Harbor Islands.

Releasing a lobster back into the water

Next week All Access will be heading to Georges Island with many groups from a new array of neighborhoods, introducing more children to the harbor and the history of the islands. 

See you on the harbor,

Amy 

A New Chapter at Save the Harbor/Save the Bay

My name is Amy Gaylord and I am the All Access Boston Harbor Coordinator for this summer’s youth program at Save the Harbor/Save the Bay.  In September I began an internship at Save the Harbor, working on Environmental Policy and Communications projects around the office.  I am pleased to say that I joined the team full time in March as a Staff Assistant and coordinator for the All Access program.  Working for Save the Harbor has been a great experience so far, and I am excited to begin a new chapter as the 2014 summer youth programs kick off with all-staff training tomorrow. 

Born and raised in Dorchester, I have spent much of my life in and around Boston Harbor.  I learned to sail at Courageous Sailing in the Charlestown Navy Yard, and taught in the youth program for the past ten summers.  My experience with Courageous taught me the importance of ensuring that children in Boston have access to the harbor—whether it is through sailing or another avenue. 

This summer I will be spending most of my time coordinating for the All Access program in the office—but I will be sure to get out there to the Boston Harbor Islands as often as I can.  I am looking forward to taking part in a new youth program, and I have already had some great experiences meeting new people and learning new things about what it takes to execute a successful youth environmental education program.

One of my main roles this summer is ensuring that the Provincetown II is bringing as many people as possible out to Spectacle, Georges, and Peddocks Islands for All Access Boston Harbor every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this summer.  If you know of a youth group or organization that would be interested in a free trip to the Boston Harbor Islands this summer, shoot me an email at Gaylord@savetheharbor.org and I will be glad to share information about the program, including availability for trips this summer!

See you on the harbor!