HISTORICAL SEAPORT AWARDED $30,000 GRANT FOR AT-RISK YOUTH PROGRAM
Federal funds to help Grays Harbor-area youth spend 12 days aboard Lady Washington, Hawaiian Chieftain

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact (media only): Joe Follansbee, Communications Director
jfollansbee@historicalseaport.org
360-589-0766

May 16, 2008

Aberdeen, Wash. – The Grays Harbor Historical Seaport Authority has been awarded a $30,000 grant by the American Sail Training Association to conduct an adventure program for at-risk young people living in Grays Harbor County. In August, 25 young people aged 12 to 17 will spend 15 days in a unique sail-training experience, including a 12-day voyage in the San Juan Islands aboard the Lady Washington, the Official Ship of the State of Washington, and her companion ship, Hawaiian Chieftain.

Participants in GHHSA’s Tall Ships Youth Adventure Program will work on personal goals, as well as the program goals of improved confidence, attitude, conflict resolution skills, moral reasoning, discipline, leadership ability, and love of life. Participants will be assigned to one of four watch groups aboard each ship, spending their days focused on shipboard tasks and lessons (sail handling, vessel operations, navigation, voyage planning, and ship’s duties) and evenings with onshore tasks (setting up camp, hiking, challenge courses, team building activities and nature studies). Each evening, the participants, educators and vessel crew will gather to discuss the day’s trials, triumphs and discoveries. Each night, one watch will remain on the vessel to stand anchor watches.

One week after their voyage, participants will create a group report on their experiences, combining logs and personal journal entries, photos and videos of their adventures. Copies of this report will be burned onto DVDs and bound into a book for each of the participants.

“We strive to create life-changing experiences for everyone who comes aboard our ships,” said Capt. Les Bolton, GHHSA executive director. “I can’t think of a more important group to serve than young people searching for a positive, constructive place in our society.”

GHHSA is one of four nationally recognized sail-training organizations receiving an ASTA Tall Ships® Youth Adventure Grant. Funds originated from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Program. GHHSA will work with Educational Service District 113 and the Grays Harbor Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee to select participants and guide them through the application process.

Photo editors: Hi-res photos of Hawaiian Chieftain and Lady Washington are available at http://historicalseaport.smugmug.com. Click “Media Images.” The password for all galleries is “hands-on”.

Hawaiian Chieftain 20th Birthday: The Hawaiian Chieftain is celebrating twenty years of changing people’s lives with a birthday party June 12, 2008. For more information, visit http://www.historicalseaport.org.