College Commended By US Sailing For Work With Youth

US Sailing has commended the nationally-recognized College of Charleston sailing program for its effort and work with youth.

College honored by U.S. Sailing REACH program

Last spring during practice for nationals, the Cougars held a STEM Camp with students from Creekside Middle School in Marion County, S.C.. In conjunction with Beneteau USA, the largest sailboat manufacturer in the world, as well as the College’s School of Sciences and Mathematics, the group of 8 to 14 year olds from Creekside Middle learned about buoyancy and displacement. The students also designed and sailed sailboats at the J. Stewart Walker Sailing Complex in Mt. Pleasant, the home facility for the College’s sailing program.

This STEM camp, as well as US Sailing’s REACH program, are designed to allow college sailing teams to inspire kids about the subjects of marine science, conservation, engineering and design. The programs introduce children to real-world applications of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) through the sport of sailing.

The spring event was so well received that the Cougars plan to host more children.

“We are planning to set up more of our camps next summer and more sessions with at-risk schools,” said College of Charleston Director of Sailing Greg Fisher. “This is an exciting new direction for our sailing program.”

Watch: C of C Sailing — A Program Like No Other