Piers Park Presenters

Margaret Farmer and our Harbor Explorers 

This week was full of visitors at Piers Park. We had visits from one of Boston's City Counselor's, members of the Massachusetts Port Authority, and even the founder of a local nonprofit organization. Our first visit was by Margaret Farmer who is running for Boston's City Counselor in District 1. In this district, if elected, she will serve Charlestown, East Boston, and the North End. Margaret explained to our Harbor Explorers that it is important for Boston to have City Councilors who are able to communicate with the Mayor of Boston about important issues in their communities. If they are experiencing troubles with things such as trash in their communities or needing something for their local public schools their parents can call the local City Councillor who will communicate the needs of the community to the Mayor.

The Massport ceremony

Our second visit was made by members of the Massachusetts Port Authority or Massport. A special ceremony was held in honor of Massport being such a large supporter of the Piers Park Sailing Center. A speech was given by Alex, the Piers Park Sailing Center Executive Director on behalf of the impact that the sailing center has on the youth of East Boston and its surrounding communities. This ceremony was a great example of proving that to achieve greatness we must work together.



On Friday, Piers Park welcomed another guest. This guest was a little bit different than the rest, her name was Magdalena and she is the founder of Harbor Keepers. Harbor Keepers is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide education about weather & climate, Boston Harbor, local marine ecosystems through waterfront tours, exploration, and free marine education. We learned about marine debris and how long different items take to biodegrade in the ocean. What we all learned was that everything takes a very very long time before it can be beneficial to the environment. After we learned about all this trash, we needed to talk about what we can do with it. Magdalena explained that trash can be turned into art projects as she showed the children things she has made. We taught the kids how to make their own debris art and everyone made a jellyfish that they were able to take home.

Working hard on their jellyfish!

After this busy week I can't wait to see what next week has in store!
Briana

Star of the Show

Just a quick ride to work!

To say last week had some gloomy days would be an understatement. Between the rain and the humidity, the kids (and staff alike) were in need of a boost. Something exciting needed to happen!

Thursdays are already a special day for the Pier's Park staff. After our staff meeting, we get picked up on a boat by our friends at the Pier's Park Sailing Center and get to cruise across Boston Harbor to our site. How cool is that?! After docking the boat and starting our walk up the ramp one of our staff members noticed a HUGE starfish in some shallow water nearby. We all began thinking out loud, "how cool would it be to bring that up to the tent for the kids before it really starts raining". Raymond offered to be the one to go into the waist deep water to get it. Quickly, a plan was set. Of course, after receiving proper counsel we decided to give it a try! Ray put a life jacket on and took a kayak, taking all safety precautions. He carefully got out of the kayak and used his hands to peer into the water almost as if he was snorkeling. Finally, after a few minutes of searching, he stuck his hands down into the water and pulled up the biggest starfish I have ever seen!! Suddenly it started to downpour and we knew we had to act fast. We quickly put the amazing creature into a bucket of sea water so that the kids could view it in a somewhat natural habitat. Carefully, we walked the bucket up to the tent where the kids were getting ready to watch a movie, they had no idea they were going to interact with any sea life at the rate the weather was headed. When the bucket was placed on a picnic table the campers erupted with overwhelming "ooh", "ahh", and "woooah" noises. Every time they asked if we caught it they seemed so shocked to hear that the answer was yes because we wanted them to be able to see it too. Hearing and seeing them be so amazed by what we had just put in front of them made the extra work completely worth it. Turns out our rainy day didn't end up being so gloomy!

                                                                                         

Nicholas loved the starfish!!

Catch you later,
Briana

The Most Eventful Week So Far

This is the starfish Raymond caught

This week was an eventful one. Starting from helping each other out, overcoming fears, and even getting a starfish from the water. On Wednesday and Thursday there was this girl that had a fear of thunder and lightning. Once I learned, this I had to help her and so I did. I told her it was all in her head and imagination that was making her think thunder is so big and bad. I also told her that it was just people in the clouds having a party. I even got a thank you from the mother on the last day which was nice and put a smile on my face. Other than that the days were pretty normal we played games and even watches finding nemo when it rained on Thursday.

However on Thursday, despite the normality of it and the amount of times I got wet that day. My co-worker Raymond had seen a starfish under the water (it was low tide at the time) and he decided to go and get it. He went in a kayak and paddled towards it and eventually got it along with a few small cuts from a barnacle. He put it in the touch tank and we brought it up for the kids to see. They were really entertained by it. After that adventure we watched finding nemo, it was pretty good. Afterwards we continued with our normal routine and games we usually play. The children absolutely loved this game called "Bop Bop BipidiBopBop" and played it in the afternoon when they were getting ready to leave.

The white board the kids wrote the thank you message on

Friday was pretty eventful in a sense too. In the morning I walked into work and saw a thank you message on the whiteboard. The kids brought in snacks and during lunch we ate lots of it. It was fun and I could tell the kids had a good time with it.

My week was great and I hope your next week is too
~Kamal

Last week at Piers Park.......

                                                        LAST WEEK AT PIERS PARK

Luke and Zack

      Hey everybody! It's me Carlos again, I just want to talk about my last week at Piers Park not sure if am going back but it was a great week for me and I had fun working at the site at Piers Park Sailing Center. I love working at Piers Park because I never heard about this park in East Boston. It was the cleanest park I've seen. My favorite part of my job at Piers Park was working on the kayaks and sailing with the kids, some of the kids I go with on sailing are loud but some of them are calm and couple of them are funny too. If you guys and ladies don't know what sailing is I got a picture of sail boat on Photo Bucket. I'll post a picture of a sail boat the day I had fun with the kids. On the sail boat is our captain named Zack. He is our number one captain, the kids love going with him on the sail boat because he does lot's of trick on the sail boat that other don't know. Zack been working at Piers Park for 11 years I think, I can't remember but he is better than the other people at Piers Park. I went after Luke on sailing. 

Zack teaching about safety on sailing

      The kayak was going great, kids love going with me because I go fast and we be saying jokes that entertained us on the kayak. Also, we had a water fight on the kayaks, the kids and I would saying we are the battleship, it's time to attack our enemies on the other kayak. We all out wet and was like wait our eyes are burning, so we stop for a break and started the war again. I still remember that couple of us was falling of the dock, the first person that fell in the dock was Mauricio because he was sitting on the edge and something happened but let me say it was funny. The second person that fell was a kid, we told them one at a time and the kayak was moving but the kids were in a rush and she fell in. The third person was a boy and he was in a rush too and jump down to sit on the kayak and fell in the water it was funny but at the same time he was laughing to but we had to make sure that everybody don't make the same mistake. So the next day we sat down as a group and play little game about sailing and that game was brain storming about what we should and should not do when using the kayaks and sail boats.

I helping and Need a haircut LOL!

       At the end of the day at Piers Park we were making a net that they could catch Plankton. During that kids were dancing so we told them once we finish building the nets they could have the dancing tournament. The kids were dancing crazy. The music they wanted to  dance to was "Watch me whip Watch me nay-nay" by Silento. It was going great for me but to my next site for Save The Harbor Save The Bay.
To Be CONTINUED..........


Sincerely, Carlos Garcia

Exploring Land and Sea......

Hey everyone!
      This week is going great, we had new faces in the program at Piers Park. Every week we get new kids. The first day I went sailing with the kids,  sailing was so much fun. We went exploring in the harbor. When I went with the kids sailing, they were so excited to go on because they wanted to learn what part of the ocean we were on and what places we would pass through in the harbor.
       I go on the kayak everyday because its' so much fun and exciting. It's a lot of work but the kids enjoy it. One thing they enjoy about the kayaks is when the wave go up and down from the boats that we pass but mostly they enjoy going on the kayaks because they love catching some jelly fishes. They enjoy going with me because they feel safe with me and I go fast on the kayaks.

Until next time, Carlos 

Piers Park!

The first two days at Piers Park Sailing Center have been amazing! I can truly say that it's going to be an awesome summer, filled with fishing, kayaking, sailing, learning about all the creatures that live in our harbor as well as tons of smiles and laughs! From what I've seen so far, our staff and kids are going to learn so much from each other and make friends and memories that will last a life time! 

Dropping down our lobster trap!

Holding a Green Crab!

Some of our kids have never been out in our harbor, so being able to see them go kayaking for the first time and going sailing for the first time was amazing. All the excitement seen in their smiles were contagious. Off our docks we even have crab and lobster traps. For some of our kids, it was their goal to be able to pick one up without being afraid and by the end of the day they were able to do so. On top of that, they were also able to identify that they were Green Crabs and whether they were female or male. 

The summer has just begun here at Piers Park and there is going to be so much to tell! And I believe pictures can always say a lot more than words can and together they will truly tell you our story at Piers Park!

- Nikita Cayabyab :) 

Seas-ing the day at McDonough!

Today at McDonough Sailing Center I got to do something very exciting- sail! I went out with some of my favorite campers- Mae, Lauren, Chloe, and Allie- and their favorite sailing instructor, Katie! 

nervous but excited!

I took sailing lessons as a child in Connecticut, but I remember always being extremely nervous on the small Optis we learned on. I even remember crying some days before camp because I was too afraid to go! Ever since then, I have never been fully comfortable on a sailboat- the keeling over feels very unnatural to me, and my instinct is usually to jump off if it keels over too far! However, I absolutely love water activities and all other kinds of boating, so I decided I would use my time at the McDonough Sailing Center this summer to conquer my fear. After about a month of thinking about it, I finally asked the girls if they thought it would be okay for me to join them on their next sailing lesson. It was an overwhelming 'yes'- they were all really excited to bring me on board and show me their knot tying and tacking skills! 

Mae, Lauren, Chloe, Allie, Katie, and I about to push off!

I was nervous at first, but the girls assured me that it would be a lot of fun, and that we wouldn't capsize- so I strapped on my lifejacket and climbed into the boat. It was an exciting feeling to become reacquainted with a sailboat- I realized it's like riding a bike, even after all these years I still remember exactly what to do with the tiller, mainsheet, centerboard, and jib! While I wasn't allowed to sail the boat today since it was pretty windy, I'm hoping that by the end of the summer I will get another chance to get out on the water and test out my skills! 

-Kelly Randall-

Everyone's a Winner!

Good afternoon!

I took a glance at my calendar and just realized...the summer is almost over! Although it has been amazing, I still feel like there is more I want to accomplish before saying goodbye. Working with the kids of South Boston has been an amazing learning process. Their enthusiasm and desire to learn has been inspiring, and has pushed me to make the extra effort to keep them engaged.

My very first week: a brave boy pets a spider crab.
(We're at the Children's Museum, here, not Southie!)

So, what's been going on at Castle Island, you ask? Well, the past few days have been exceptionally exciting for the children at McDonough. Their counselors - many of whom are avid sailors and instructors - raced each other in Pleasure Bay this past Friday. The kids were numbered off and while some were allowed on the sailboats to help race, the others stayed on the dock and cheered for their respective teams.

Sailing races!

After McDonough Sailing Center counselor Danielle came out victorious, we got back to the activities :) Each day, the kids take turns coming out on the sailing center's Whaler - it's a motor boat! - and help pull up Save the Harbor's lobster trap. And no, of course the kids don't do all the work; that thing is heavy, especially when it has more than ten lobsters hanging out inside it. We spent a LOT of time discussing molting and regeneration in crustaceans. Three of the lobsters had lost a claw at one point in their lives and were all at different stages of regeneration. One lobster appeared to have lost its claw at some point after entering the trap (we found it's lonely claw laying desolate inside). Another lobster's claw was only about an inch long, was bright red, and had not yet hardened into a shell. Last, we picked up a five pound lobster that had abnormally small claws for its body size. Very interesting!

Lobsters galore again!

It was a hot one outside though, so for those who needed a break from the sun, staffer, Brianna also helped make friendship bracelets out on the docks (green for seaweed and blue for the ocean). It seems like we never run out of things to do over there and I'm happy I have another week and a half with the kids and staffers out in Southie.

Until next time,
Mary