WhaleSail Scholarships Available to Cape & Island Students

Cape and Island students invited to WhaleSail aboard the Spirit of Massachusetts

PROVINCETOWN - The Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies invites Cape and Islands students to WhaleSail aboard Spirit of Massachusetts, a 125-foot schooner. The WhaleSail program is open to students aged 13-17 who are interested in studying marine science for a week in July.

Twelve $450 scholarships are currently available for the program through the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies' educational endowment. Applications including a 500-word essay on the marine environment, and a scholastic letter of recommendation, are due May 15. Tuition for the weeklong learning adventure is $900 and includes instruction, materials, and room and board.

WhaleSail, now in its third year, is a key component of MassSail - a joint venture between the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies (PCCS) and Ocean Classroom Foundation (OCF) - is a series of dockside and at-sea marine education programs designed to promote awareness and stewardship of Massachusetts' marine and coastal environments and marine ecosystems aboard Spirit of Massachusetts. WhaleSail sessions are scheduled throughout the month of July--July 7-13, July 16-22, and July 25-31.

WhaleSail takes students on ocean adventures - watching whales up close and personal in their natural habitat aboard Spirit of Massachusetts. Students sail aboard Spirit along the coast of Massachusetts and southern New England to find the great whales in their summer feeding grounds, as scientists and educators from PCCS lead investigations into whale biology, natural history, and conservation.

Participants become part of the crew, sharing sea songs, games and stories while learning seafaring skills. Students will learn to make sailor's knots and splices, sail and line handling, navigation, perform lookouts and safety duties, as well as many other skills necessary to keep a ship safe on her course. Students collect plankton samples, perform oceanographic experiments, and visit historic sites and museums and WhaleSail sails from and returns to Fan Pier in Boston.

For more information on MassSail and WhaleSail scholarships visit www.coastalstudies.org, or call Joanne M. Jarzobski at the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies, at 508.487.3623, ext. 107.

The Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies [ www.coastalstudies.org ] is a private, independent non-profit, founded in 1976 and is dedicated to researching and protecting marine mammals and marine ecosystems in the Gulf of Maine through research, conservation and public education programs. PCCS is internationally renowned for its whale research, and is a leading authority in science-based resource management policies in Massachusetts.

The Ocean Classroom Foundation [ www.oceanclassroom.org ] is a non-profit educational organization that provides sea education and adventure for the youth of America. Ocean Classroom is a leader in experiential education, with award-winning programs sailing from the Canadian Maritimes to the Caribbean Sea.