Goodbye Again!

Thus ends another summer at Save the Harbor/Save the Bay. It was a great summer to come back to Save the Harbor as it was our 25th Anniversary year, we held great trips on All Access Boston Harbor and great programs at all of the sailing centers as part of Boston Harbor Explorers and then, as my last two days, had a Summertime Beach Bash for the kids and then a Summertime Splash party the day after!

I had a great time at the beach bash spending a majority of my morning making sand castles and then spending my afternoon feeding the masses a tremendous amount of hot dogs. It was great to be around the kids as an unofficial "office rat" it felt good to go out and see the work we had been doing all summer come together.

It was also great to come back again and hang out with people that I had met last summer, like Thi and Michelle! I met great new people that had come to the office such as Brianne and Caitlin. I thank all of the people in the office, Brianne, Michelle, Caitlin, Matt, Patty, and Bruce for making this another summer that I could never forget and that I also felt like, again, that I was making a difference in Boston especially for the youth of Boston and the surrounding neighborhoods. I also thank all of the summer staff for doing an amazing job and not driving me too crazy with the blog posts :)

So unlike last summer, a summer of firsts and a little hectic, this summer was calm and great and I was so thankful to come back to Save the Harbor and be an intern again! Everything I've learned will help me so much!

Thanks guys and maybe see you next summer, who knows!

Cassie

A Farewell to Spectacle Island

Last Friday's Beach Event Day in South Boston was amazing! I had a great time. It was so cool to see so many campers come together and just have a day of fun and relaxation, courtesy of Save the Harbor! I was mostly working on Sand Castles, which ended up with of bunch of campers and I digging to strike water (which we eventually did) and campers being buried up to their necks. And even though the stress level seemed to have gone up when lunch began, Save the Harbor did a great job working together; good job guys!

But, my main focus of this blog post was to say my farewells to Spectacle. Although I have only been there three times with Save the Harbor, all my visits granted me some new adventure. My first time was meeting new staff and seeing what the island was all about (by the way, that was my first time ever ON the island); my second time had me flying kite (not going to talk about it); and my final time, which was today, had me kayaking around the island! Thi and I, along with three other people from another group, went kayaking in a sort of informal tour around Spectacle Island. Although the harbor was really choppy, it was such an experience. I have only kayaked on rivers before, and to do it on theharbor for the first time, around such a beautiful island, truly was breathtaking. Later once we came back from All Access I realized what an awesome way that was to end my summer not only at Spectacle, but also at Save the Harbor.

It's not my last blog post, but I still want to say thanks to all my fellow staff and the leaders and senior educators who made this experience for me an unforgettable one. I am going to miss all of you!

Thanks,

David

Summertime Splash!

On the weekend of August 12th, Save the Harbor/Save the Bay hosted parties for all of the kids that we have worked with this summer, and their families. The turnout was quite impressive, with about 400 people showing up. The day was jam-packed with painting, sand castle building, fishing, and a touch tank with a lobster inside!

With 400 people comes 400 bellies, so lunch was the most hectic part of the day, with alot of scrambling to get condiments and hot dogs. The staff was prepared with 1,100 hot dogs. We also built a beautiful sand sculpture of the Save the Harbor/ Save the Bay logo! Meanwhile, Timmy, Candido,Will, and I had dug a very deep hole to keep our feet cool.

Another highlight of the day was when the entire staff played ultimate frisbee. Conor was the leader of one team, while Michelle led the other team. Conor's team dominated as he was the ultimate frisbee co-captain at his college. Of course, the most important highlight of the day was when everyone ran into the water to help raise money to help raise money to benefit Boston's beaches. The water was frigid, but everyone still had a blast!

GoodBye Everyone :(

This was the best summer ever for me with SavetheHarbor/SavethBay.
I loved working with all of you.

I learned a lot and went to places I've never been to. My favorite event was the Summer Splash. I had so much fun working with all of you! I wish we could have spent more time together!

It's hard to say goodbye to each other. I hope all of you have a great rest of the summer. Be safe.

-Candido

Summer Time Splash

Last Friday and Saturday, we held Summer Time Splash at one of the South Boston beaches; both days turned out to be a huge success. On Friday, we invited all the groups we had the pleasure of working with throughout the summer. Over 400 kids were fishing, painting, building sand castles, playing sports flying kites and eating hot dogs. It was a great day to be at the beach. On Saturday, we had much less of a turn out, but it turned into a great day regardless. We built a very impressive symbol for Save the Harbor and got to welcome the Boston light swimmers. It was a fantastic weekend, possibly the best I have had all summer.

~wilshere

Ultimate Fun!

Summertime Splash was an exciting day. It was exciting because I had the opportunity to fly kites with all the different kids and just enjoy the nice weather. The highlights of my day were actually getting a kite to fly in the air for a little girl. Watching her smile made me light up with joy. Another highlight was ultimate frisbee; I've never played an organized game of frisbee before saturday. My most memorable moment of Summertime Splash was trying and successfully fighting off the staff not to throw me in the water. I love these type of events because not only does it give you the opportunity to have fun with the kids it also forces you to bond with your co-workers. I can't wait till the next event this saturday.

-Mekhi

Some Ultimate Disc For An Ultimate Saturday

This Saturday, we found ourselves returning to the Curly Rec Center for the second day in a row. The event was the Summer Splash which was an open beach event for friends of the Harbor and was occurring just as swimmers from the Boston Harbor Light Race were crossing the finish line. Before we had a big old splash in the Boston Harbor to celebrate the South Boston beaches for having the cleanest urban beaches in America, we decided to organize a quick game of Ultimate Disc between members of the staff. Ultimate Disc is played with a Frisbee and is very much like a cross between basketball and football. You attempt to throw a pass into the touchdown zone without getting blocked or letting it touch the ground. Also, When in possession of the disc, the player must establish a pivot foot and remained rooted to the very spot. They then must pass the disc to one of their teammates before the opposing player covering them counts to ten "stalls". Michelle and I were the two captains who selected teams. My team worked extremely hard and there work paid off, we soundly crushed the our coworkers. Everyone preformed really well but I got to hand it to Leon with his game changing interceptions and Ahmed with his fantastic touchdowns. After the game we later ran into my buddy Paddy, a young sailor at The McDonough Sailing Center. He ended up playing toss with Tommy and I, where he was not ashamed to show off his Frisbee skills. Paddy started off the summer not knowing how to throw. But this year he has pretty much mastered all the throws. I was very impressed and hope that him and the other Southie kids keep up with the sport. South Boston could rival Amherst as the new hots spot for Youth Ultimate.
Take Care,

Conor B. Newman

Splashing in the Harbor

Friday, August 12. I had no idea what to expect for this event that has been looming over my head for at least a month. Conor, BJ, and I, as part of the Youth Committee, were hosting the Summertime Splash at the Curly Community Center. The day before the event, I realized I had my own station and had to prepare the murals and posters for the kids to color in. It took me the entire day and night for me to be satisfied with my work. I had drawn a huge flounder, an oilfish, and a 30 ft long seabed with 8 signs. I woke up bright and early to arrive at the center by 8:30, lugging along the signs that I had painted only a few hours before. As the entire staff helped set up all the stations, my excitement grew and grew. We sang the famous sea shanty, Haul Away JOE! The moment that ended, every single person lined up along the shore and at the count of four, we all ran in at once!

I had so much fun with all the groups that came! I want to thank everyone who made it happen and made it an AMAZING day!

Thi Tran

A Summertime Splash!

This past weekend the whole Save the Harbor team went to Carson Beach and had two epic barbecues. On Friday, we invited over 400 children from youth programs all over Boston to join us in our celebration. We had different events going on at once. Children were able to build sand castles, fish, fly kites, play sports, paint and color, and even learn about the Harbor. There was even free drinks, food, and snacks that were given out to everyone who participated in making this event a successful one. The arts section was, without a doubt, the best activity that was there. It was hosted by Thi, LaToya, Leon, and I. Thi drew different marine animals, including characters from Spongebob Squarepants. The children painted, colored, and drew on white paper. The most unique aspect about the arts section was that everyone HAD to sign our version of a guestbook, which consisted of a huuuuuge flounder and guests had to write their names on a scale that would be pasted onto the fish. By the end of the event, the flounder was filled in an array of colors. The scales showed everyone's different personalities because we also drew and designed them with things that we liked. Before we ate lunch, Bruce wanted to make an attempt at breaking the world record for the amount of people to run into the ocean at once. Everyone ran in, making a huge SUMMERTIME SPLASH. Friday's event was definitely a success, and I hope this becomes an annual event.
Saturday's beach event was much more laid back. We welcomed the first open-sea swimmer at 9:30am, followed by a relay team that reach the shore about a minute after. The two live bands were very upbeat and kept us all moving our feet, and one band even made a song just for Save the Harbor! For the majority of the day, we all worked together to make a sand sculpture. Bruce gave us the task of making the new Save the Harbor logo in the sand. After about an hour and a half of working on it, we finished it. It impressed everyone who passed by it.

Save the Harbor's beach event this weekend was one to remember. Thank you to everyone who participated in making it possible, including our very special guests!