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Wednesday, April 14, 1999 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER C1 Education/lnstniction An Oakville Beaver Feature To advertise in this section call 845-3824 Fax: 337-5568 * f k e b Mtkei*be By Teresa Pitman SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER Here's 17-year-old Jennifer Illingworth's average day at school: Wake up at 7 a.m. and be on deck by 7:15. Scrub the deck, polish the brass fit­ tings, tidy the cabin, and be ready for breakfast at 8 a.m. After breakfast, help wash the dishers, then join the other 19 students on a hike into the rainforest. Eat lunch by the side of a river, then cool off with a swim under a dramatic waterfall. In the afternoon, watch dolphins try to catch your attention as they swim along­ side your ship, and at sunset see a volcano erupting on an island not too far away. If this doesn't sound like the typical school day for most of the kids you know, it's because Illingworth is doing her sec­ ond Grade 12 semester on board the schooner Spirit of Massachusetts as one of 20 students from across North America (and the only one from Canada this time) enjoying the Ocean Classroom program run by the Harvey Gamage Foundation. Illingworth says she read about the program in a magazine article, and it appealed to her immediately. "I didn't feel inspired at school," she says, "and even though I didn't have much experi­ ence with boats, I knew I wanted to do this." When her application was accepted, she was thrilled: "This is a once-in-a-life- time opportunity." The ship didn't look quite like she had expected, and meeting a group of strangers who will be sharing close quarters with you for the next few months can be pretty intimidating. By now, though, they have become treasured friends. Illingworth's voyage began on Feb. 1st in St. Thomas, and included visits to a number of Carribean islands and the coast of South America. After March Break, the ship is taking the students through the Bahamas and eventually up the eastern seaboard of the United States, finishing in Boston at the end of May. Along the way they learn about: the ecology of the ocean, marine mathematics (navigation), maritime history (including the slave trade, whaling, and more), literature of the sea (writing by Melville, London, etc.) and practical seamanship. While part of their learning is done using traditional classes, homework and tests, Illingworth says the emphasis is on learning in a prac­ tical way. "Often we'll be having a lesson and someone will see a whale or a dolphin, and we just stop the lesson to go watch them," she explains. For Illingworth, one valuable lesson has been meeting the people who live along the ship's route. "We've been able to interact with people from different cul­ tures," she says "and it's really made me realize how much we take for granted here. The kids will walk three or four miles to school every day, and they don't think anything of it. And the level of poverty is hard for us to really imagine or understand." As if this adventure wasn't enough, Illingworth added to it by having not one but two emergency surgeries. They were in Bequia when she developed appendici­ tis and had to be transferred to St. Vincent's for the surgery. Three days later, she was out of the hospital and back on the boat. But less than two weeks later, she fell ill again, just as they arrived in Venezuela. This time they decided to fly her home to Oakville for the surgery. "I didn't want to come home," Illingworth says. "But many of my friends from the ship came up to visit me during March Break." Illingworth says her semester at sea has done more than teach her about marine biology and the lives of people thousands of miles from Oakville. "I think I have a lot more confidence in myself," she says. "Now I know what I can do, how I can cope with challenges." She also hopes to return to the islands she has visited: "It really is paradise - you have to be there to see how beautiful it is." The hardest part, she admits, will be going back to a regular classroom when her ocean journey is finished. Other high school students interested in the Ocean Classroom program can con­ tact the Schooner Harvey Gamage Foundation at 1-800-724-7245. Photo by Barrie ] Jennifer Illingworth is doing her second Grade 12 semester on board the schooner Spirit of Massachusetts. Dance studio brings out the best in student and instructor ADVERTISING FEATURE In 1947, at the peak of Fred Astaire's Hollywood career, he co-founded the dance studio organization with Mr. Charles Casanave. 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