A sailboat isn’t a typical classroom. But SEA Semester takes students into the middle of the ocean for college credit.

‘Here you bond with students onboard because you are part of a team who runs the entire ship together,’ said Eric Holzwarth, the deputy director for the Syracuse University honors program. ‘And the people who teach the students are wonderful, some of the best I’ve ever seen.’

Holzwarth went onboard the SEA Semester boat last summer for a week. He said he was absolutely fascinated by the program and is now a big promoter for SEA Semester. The program is adding two new programs focused on specific marine locations in the spring 2011 semester, which will also be SEA Semester’s 40th anniversary.

SEA Semester provides a semester’s worth of credits through a 12-week program dedicated to learning about and experiencing the ocean. The first half of the program is spent on shore in Woods Hole, Mass., taking classes on oceanography, which include the biology, chemistry, physics and geology of the ocean. Students design their own research project and then implement it during the second half of the program at sea. There is also a shorter eight-week summer program open to students.

Students from the honors program interested in applying to SEA Semester traveled to Woods Hole this past weekend to visit their on-site classrooms. An information session on the program was held at SU earlier in October. The program is open to all students, and fees start at $17,600. 

Ginny Pellam-Montalbano, coordinator of special programs at SU Abroad, said SU usually sends between one and three students on SEA Semester each year. SEA Semester is considered a world partner, which means the credits count as SU credits, but SU Abroad does not formally recognize it as one of its centers.

This year, SEA Semester will debut two new programs, one in French Polynesia and the other dedicated to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

‘Sustainability in Polynesian Island Cultures and Ecosystems’ is designed to analyze the dilemma of environmental and cultural sustainability in French Polynesia, according to SEA Semester’s website. Students will spend one more week than usual on the boat and spend the last week onshore at the University of Hawaii.

‘Energy and the Ocean Environment’ investigates the social, environmental and technological dimensions of energy production and transportation in coastal and open ocean environments, according to the website. Students will track the footprint of the oil spill through the Gulf of Mexico.

Eric Stengrevics, a senior earth science major, heard about SEA Semester through his oceanography professor last fall, he said. He was able to participate during the spring 2010 semester.

His program, ‘Ocean Exploration,’ complemented his major well, but there were many students on his voyage who were just doing it for the experience, he said. While studying on shore, Stengrevics said he took oceanography, maritime studies and nautical science to attain some background of the ocean and to start thinking about what he would be doing on the boat.

‘We learned how to sail in the classroom and then actually applied that knowledge on the boat,’ Stengrevics said. ‘We also learned about wind patterns, ocean systems, different organisms and sailing.’

Stengrevics said unlike other SEA Semester programs, he only had one port stop, so he was on the boat sailing for the majority of the time. He said SEA Semester was a time for him and his classmates to use their knowledge to explore and navigate the ocean.

‘Each program throughout the year is different,’ he said. ‘‘Ocean Exploration’ was more science-y based, but the nice thing about SEA is that you can choose the one that fits you best.’

hawentz@syr.edu

Published on October 12, 2010 at 12:00 pm