BEACH PARTY 2012 !!

 

Hey everyone on August 17, 2012 the Save the Harbor/ Save the Bay staff enjoyed a day with all the camps of kids that we have taken on All Access Boston harbor with us this year. We were just celebrating the time that was spent during the summer together, what we have learned, and having such a BLAST ! This was my first beach party with Save the Harbor / Save the Bay and it was quite an experience considering all the things we had to do to prepare to cleaning up at the end of the day. I was put at the Art Station with Thi and Carly. We had so much fun watching everyone soak up the sun while we had the only shade on the whole beach. The kids had a chance to write their names on a scale to put on the big fish we drew out and to see how many of them actually participated was incredible. After that was done we got to color and hang up the artwork whether it was finished or not. We learned that the kids really enjoyed themselves and that it was another experience they can say that Save the Harbor / Save the Bay actually did an awesome job with if I may say so myself. Despite it being so hot that day was fun to resist the erge to get in the water or cool off anyway until Bruce announced the big SPLASH ! The splash was a huge relief. 

By: Brianna Charles

Staff Day !

Hey , its Brianna again. All summer long working with Save the Harbor / Save the Bay has been a wonderful experience that on Tuesday , August 7, 2012 we were introduced with the opportunity to eat out of Bruce and Patty's boat. We had hot dogs , chips , drinks , and cookies. As a full staff we got to play capture the flag , go and enjoy the water , and also enjoy the children that we brought along with us to Spectacle Island. It was my first time celebrating staff day with Save the Harbor / Save the Bay so it was a fun experience except I didn't play the annual Capture the Flag with everyone. Instead I chose to go in the water. This summer I have enjoyed hanging with my staff so today was a day to just sit back and enjoy the weather with people that I work with everyday. I have really enjoyed my time with Thi Tran. She has been the sunlight to my morning. Without the sun there would not be a morning. Even though we are close friends she still helps me learn about Sea Glass and learning about Save the Harbor / Save the Bay. She makes my days fun and enjoyable. Thi and I learn how to do things together from gimp with the kids to finding other colors of sea glass. That day she introduced me to having raw sushi I mean it wasnt bad but that it was something that was new to me.



By: Brianna Charles

Fishing Tournament

Delilah and I on the boat cooling off while we wait for the fish



This is the rear view of our boat, us leaving the dock to go find some fish

This event was a first time thing for me. I have never really went fishing. I have been around people that fish but I never really learned how to fish until I came to this event. I was excited to do this event because I was going to learn how to fish but also I was with someone I am not usually paired with. I was paired with Delilah and Ahmed. We really had a great time on our speed boat. I dont remember the name of the boat but our boat looked like it had a jucuzzi behind the driver seat. Delilah and I were on the chairs that turn and are facing toward the water and Ahmed was facing the front of the boat on this long bench. He said he was getting soaked on the bench but Delilah and I were feeling majority of the motions of the boat going over the waves. It didnt hit me until after we settled down that the littlest boats feel the most motion. I never felt "sea sick" until I got on that speed boat. We went so far out that we passed Spectacle Island, Long Island, and Thompson Island. We even passed the Long Island Bridge and went to the Hull Peninsula. It was an event that I had never done before so it was a new experience that I enjoyed a lot. After this event I plan to go fishing with my mom's boyfriend more often.                                                                         

                                                                                                     By: Brianna Charles



Our boat in full speed action with the city behind us

Newest Little Sister / Friend

Hey guys , its Brianna again. This is my new friend Damari. On Friday August 3, 2012 , Damari and I had a bonding moment from sharing our daily lives with each other to learning about personalities. Damari is a young 10-year old , Cape Verdian. She is from the Hyde Park Community Center and told me things like she loves to dance , play volleyball , and soccer. She said she has tried multiple times to get a dance group going within her community center but not enough people wanted to join. When I told her about how I have been dancing since I was 6-years old she was ecstatic because she has the same passion as a 10-year old girl. She inspires me to keep my dance life alive just for little kids who have different talents and inspire to use them the right way. She also told me that she loves being on boats and near the water but isnt able to be on boats because her mother gets sea sick easily. So I took it upon myself to invite her with me and my moms friends to go fishing with us. She makes me so happy and excited for the things we could do outside of work of course with her parents permission. Well time to sign out i'll write back later in the week i'll keep you posted. Toodles !

By: Brianna Charles

Young Clams and Young Bostonians!

Hello all!

This past Wednesday, Ana, Anthony, Brianna, and I headed out to Thompson Island to seed clam beds. Now, the last time I wrote, I talked about all the things I was doing for the first time this summer, even though it's my third summer with our youth programs. Well, our day out on Thompson Island definitely added to the list!

First and foremost, I'd NEVER been out to Thompson Island, so I was really excited to see what the island had to offer. Each island out in Boston Harbor has it's own identity, whether its the spooky tunnels of Georges or the gorgeous beach glass of Spectacle or the menacing and ominous cone-shaped marking atop Nix's Mate. I've been so fascinated to learn about each one in my time here at Save the Harbor. Thompson Island is additionally fascinating because it isn't typically publicly accessible, so we were granted a behind-the-scenes look at the many uses and beautiful resources of the island! Home to a former trade school, a current youth development camp, organic gardens, native american historic preservation efforts, and an effort to rebuild the Harbor's clam population, it was great!

Now you might be wondering: How the heck do you "seed" and "clam bed"? Honestly, I was wondering the same thing. It was another first for me! We "planted" thousands of juvenile clams -- smaller than the size of a dime-- in the native salt marshes of the island. Here's how...

Step 1: We laid down a net on the muddy beach to mark our clam bed area. Baby clams would soon make the area their home!

Step 2: We dug a deep trench around the net. Here's Ana, showing us how!

Step 3: We removed the net and raked the top layer of sand and mud. We wanted to disturb any green crabs-- which are natural predators of clams-- in the area and capture them.

Step 4: Once as many green crabs as possible were eradicated from the plot, we scattered some young clams! We put about 6,000 in each plot.

Step 5: We replaced the net. We filled mud back into the trenches, securing the edges of the netting. We wanted to make sure the net was secured so that it would stay put at high tide when it was entirely submerged. Our team did a great job, and I really liked meeting the high school Thompson Island Green Ambassadors on my team!

Here's Anthony with the finished product!

My favorite part of the entire experience was getting to work literally alongside so many other great organizations that are serving youth on Boston Harbor. The day before, I had been given the opportunity to attend a Boston Harbor Island Alliance meeting and briefly present to the board and several other community organizations about how Save the Harbor's summer programs with be connecting 7,000 kids and teens to the Harbor Islands this summer. But I also got to listen to what other groups around the Harbor were doing around the Harbor, regardless of whether they were focusing on children, teens, families, conservation, public education, youth development, or recreation. And it was fantastic to see so many familiar faces on Thompson Island the next day.

As Arthur Pearson, CEO of Thompson Island Outward Bound, said to me on the island: it was so great to see the sum of all the work that we're all doing for kids on the Harbor, all in one place. One group is serving 5,000 kids this summer, another is working with 3,000, another will connect 6,000 new people to the water, another group is serving hundreds of local teenagers, etc, etc, etc.... and Save the Harbor will bring 7,000 kids and teens out to the islands and will work with thousands more at our youth environmental education sites and on our region's public beaches this year. All those numbers really add up! I love the work I do, but I'm even MORE excited to see it in an even larger context of so many common goals across these organizations. It was an inspiring day!

Thank you so much to Thompson Island Outward Bound for hosting us, and to Chris at the Department of Marine Fisheries for showing us the clam-seeding ropes! We can't wait to help again next year!

See you out on the islands, everyone!

Michelle Palermino

My Favorite Girls Group

 <-- This group of girls were like my little sisters. Its like when we met things just clicked. They were asking questions based on what they saw, the history of Spectacle Island, and asking questions like   how i became an employee of Save the Harbor/Save the Bay. They were so interested in being represented by me that when we got on the Island all they wanted to do was be around me. When we went searching for sea glass they were excited to find different colors of glass in all different shapes and sizes.
Although these girls were from the same program they were separate. These girls were the light of my day considering the fact that they were so interested which made me more interested to teach them.

By: Brianna Charles

A Huge Transformation

       Boston was supposed to have this huge storm on Wednesday July 18, 2012. A bunch of Save the Harbor / Save the Bay staff were coming from Spectacle Island. We were leaving the island and all of a sudden it got very dark. We all watched everything happen from lightning to the water color changing. It was exciting to see the water turn from green to turquoise green-ish blue. We saw the clouds forming over the northwest part of Boston. As we were sailing on the harbor, the wind was blowing tremendously. The waves were beautiful, heavy, and loud. To see how the color of the clouds changed the color and energy of the water was just amazing. This experience hit me really hard because I had never been away from Boston on an open body of water enough to see something like this so it was definitely a sight to see.

 

By: Brianna Charles

A New Place Calls For New Adventures

       Hey, my name is Brianna Charles. I am 18-years old and a graduate of Brighton High School and I am a Freshman at Bunker Hill Community College as a nursing major. I am very outgoing and friendly. I chose to be a nursing major because I loved kids, well babies and wanted to be around them as they were born instead of having my own at 18-years old ( also known as midwifing ). When I found out about Save the Harbor / Save the Bay it was only through Blue Cross Blue Shield. I knew BCBS helped you get jobs but I didn't know they were giving out some fun jobs for the summer. This was a great time to get more experience with varies age groups, I knew what my job was when I was being interviewed ( kinda ) but my first day i absolutely loved it. It gave me a chance to get away from the usual city of Boston and explore things with kids and teens while being knowledgeable of the marine science and harbor lifestyle. 


Brianna Charles