If you look at a map of the Delmarva peninsula, you may easily overlook Parting Creek, a small, whale-shaped estuary midway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Chesapeake Bay. If you visit this unassuming place, you lose that sense of geography, and Parting Creek simply becomes an integral part of an area seemingly content in its obscurity while rich in local charm and ecological wonder.
From this marshland and this modest tidal creek springs a legacy of sorts, for it is the site where we and our sophomore students at Northampton High launched the boats we built in our Legacy program.
A Hands-On Learning Experiment
Legacy began six years ago when the Nature Conservancy, the Eastern Shore Historical Society, and the Northampton County School system joined forces to create a new educational program to expose students to the area's ecological and historical richness. What emerged was a hands-on learning experiment, combining all three of our disciplines: history, biology, and English.
Building boats wasn't even in the plan. In Legacy's first year (1993-94), students dug for clams, constructed a replica of a typical shelter of the Gingaskin Indians (a matriarchal tribe indigenous to the Eastern Shore), and interviewed long-time area residents to gain an anecdotal history that went generations deep.
Happily, the academic integrity of the program did not suffer in this unconventional setting. Indeed, compared to the rest of the sophomore class, Legacy students' test scores went up 5 to 7 percent in English, social studies, and science. "Legacy changed my life," says first-year participant Jesse Walman, now a sophomore at the University of Virginia.
However, success did not automatically continue in the wake of the first year. Because of scheduling problems and lukewarm administrative support, only 17 students enrolled in Legacy in 1994-95, down from 29 the previous year. As a result, the second class lacked some of the energizing diversity that had helped make the first year's projects so imaginative and innovative. For most of the first semester, Legacy wallowed in convention, producing sadly conventional results.
Things started to turn just before Christmas break. That's when Bill Young, a boat builder from Willis Wharf, approached us with an idea to work with a group of students on a boat-building project.
“We Can Build Boats”
We brought the boat-building proposal to the attention of the Legacy class. A few students were interested, but there was no flurry of excitement. We talked about it wistfully for a few days. We found a book on watercraft of the Chesapeake Bay, and looked at the pictures, but that was about it. For nearly a month, boat building was a pipe dream, an idea that languished under the weight of accumulated mountains of educational busywork.
Then, in January, we loaded the class onto our Legacy school bus and made the 17-mile trip to Bill Young's shop in Willis Wharf on Parting Creek. Bill showed us a kayak he had designed and built, explaining how the pieces were cut and assembled. He told our students that if they wanted to build something similar, he would prefabricate all the parts at his shop. He also suggested that we contact Warren Flint at the Virginia Coast Institute to try to get a grant for a boat-building project. The next day, we contacted Flint, and the students wrote a grant request to the Virginia Coast Institute.
Bill Young provided us a prototype of his kayak and a scale plan showing side, bottom, and deck perspectives, as well as the location of bulkheads. The students constructed small cardboard models based on the proportions shown.
On a cold, windy day in the first week in March, we loaded the prototype onto the Legacy bus and drove to the Chesapeake Bay, hoping to go kayaking there. But the water was too rough, so we went to a shallow pond nearby. Only a few of the students were brave enough to give it a try even there, but it was a beginning.
The next day, we received a check for $1,500 from the Virginia Coast Institute. The students were amazed. We were in business.
We ordered materials, and Bill Young started cutting out the parts. The following Saturday, Legacy teachers went to Bill's shop, and he showed us how to assemble a kayak. On Tuesday, students practiced paddling on the bay. Then we sat on a porch and read a section of James Michener's Chesapeake and talked about boat building from historical and personal perspectives. The next day, we went to the shop to pick up the first load of kayak parts.
Then we started building kayaks. The Legacy classroom—a mobile unit behind Northampton High School's main building—became a storeroom filled with lumber, saw horses, jigs, and, as construction progressed, boats at various stages of completion. Students in the morning classes who also used the mobile unit had to squeeze between and around all the boat shop clutter, but they seemed more intrigued than annoyed.
Days in the Yard
Legacy class spanned three regular periods, from 12:30 to 3 p.m. Most of the construction had to be done outside, so the first order of business was to carry tools, materials, and unfinished boats out to the yard. For the next two hours, it was cut, glue, nail, and sand.
The students were also required to maintain their academic work. They could integrate much of it with boat building, but some subjects they had to pursue separately. Every day, they had to document their application of one Standard of Learning for each subject area, describe the learning activity, and explain how it satisfied the standard. This proved to be not only an effective assessment tool, but a sophisticated writing and thinking assignment.
On rainy days, and between sawing and nailing, we read Chesapeake, Beautiful Swimmers, and Frederick Douglass's autobiography. We also conducted lessons in grammar, biology, and history.
As our boats took shape, more and more students and teachers wandered over to inspect our work. In April, the Virginian-Pilot and Ledger-Star newspapers ran stories and photos featuring the boat-building program. The students appreciated the recognition.
By the time we finished six kayaks, it was clear that we had neither the time nor the funds to build 20 of them. Bill Young proposed a switch from kayaks to something called "the six-hour canoe." Its design was similar to the to that of the kayaks; because it didn't need decking or bulkheads, the six-hour canoe required less time and material to build.
By the third week of May, 17 boats were ready. All we had to do was build double-ended paddles, and then Legacy could launch its maiden voyage.
A Three-Mile Boat Ride
The morning of June 1 was warm and sunny. We set up our fleet in a narrow waterway behind Bill's shop at Willis Wharf and gazed out at the creek. Some of the students could not swim. Most had no boating experience save the excursion in Bill Young's prototype in knee-deep water. We pushed off, and Legacy's maiden voyage was underway.
Our 17-boat procession passed under the Willis Wharf bridge, where a small crowd of enthusiastic spectators were gathered. As we maneuvered onto Parting Creek, we were joined by a Coast Guard auxiliary escort, a regular Coast Guard vessel, and a third boat containing Bill Young. Spectators along the shore waved and gawked at us and our fleet. The fast, rhythmical motion of so many double-ended paddles resembled the wings of birds or giant dragonflies. We went about a mile and a half up Parting Creek, exploring marshes along either bank.
The hungry crew stopped at a pier for lunch. Bill Young was obviously proud, like a father. We took some students swimming, partied with our Coast Guard chaperones, told boat-building stories, then headed back home. We arrived back at Northampton High School sunburned and exhiliratingly exhausted.
In Their Own Words
A few days later, the Legacy students wrote about their boat-building experience for their final English exam.When I put [my boat] in the water, it made me proud. While I was in my boat headed for the dock I was by myself for awhile. I became excited just to think I mixed the glue to hold this boat together and I put in the nails. It helped me see that I can do something if I try.—Dana WashingtonI felt proud of myself, that I had done a good job.—Demarco SpadyI was so excited I couldn't sleep the night before. I was scared because I had no idea of how my boat would hold up. But it did. The first couple of strokes with my paddle were exhilarating.—Cari KromeWhen we went on the trip I was very excited because it was something I did on my own. This class taught me how to be myself and gave me self-confidence in what I do. I wish we could take this next year again.—Jessica SennhauserI was proud of myself. I knew that if I could build a boat, then anything was possible.—Andrea Richardson
Legacy's Legacy
Almost three years have passed since that first Legacy cruise. In the fall of 1995, Northampton High School switched to a block schedule with four 90-minute classes each semester and kindly invited Legacy to begin a spring program. Thanks to the long class periods, Legacy now runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and we are able to take Legacy off campus. Three to five days each week, we travel 17 miles south to the tip of the peninsula and the Eastern Shore National Wildlife Refuge, where we hold classes in an Environmental Education storage building.
The Legacy class of 1996 built 20 canoes in the new, spacious shop. Eighteen were for students; one was for the owner of a local hardware store in exchange for materials and tools. The last boat was commissioned by the Fish and Wildlife staff, who gave it to the refuge director as a retirement gift.
The class of 1997 built 19 canoes and a 14-foot crabbing skiff. The students also shared their boat-building skills with a man who had retired and moved to the Eastern Shore to experience the very things the Legacy program was conceived to preserve. He purchased materials and worked with the students to build his own canoe, then joined them on a number of canoe trips. In addition to boat building, the students helped to plant nearly 3,000 trees, hosted classes of elementary and middle school students, and created a field guide to plants and animals indigenous to the refuge.
With the longer class period, the 1997 students were able to complete building by mid-April, enabling them to use their canoes for nearly two months. They conducted water-quality studies and learned about fecal coliform bac-terial contamination and its effects on marine life. With their boats, Legacy students were able to clean the shorelines of otherwise inaccessible creeks and marshes. They requested and received a grant from to the Virginia Coast Reserve to begin a documentary film about their activities. The 1998 class is continuing with the effort and will complete it. The new class includes six students from last year's class who are responsible for directing much of the boat construction and filmmaking. They also have assumed a leadership role in other Legacy activities, including a new aquaculture project.
The Legacy program has evolved from its original format. It has not become the vehicle for preserving the history and culture of the Eastern Shore that we initially envisioned. However, the boat-building project has developed beyond anyone's expectations. In the future, we hope to find a way to combine the two.
One reason that Legacy has been effective in students' lives is that three teachers are better than one—our disciplines feed one another. The program has worked because we have had the support and involvement of the community and because the school and district have allowed us the freedom to be innovative and strive for excellence. Finally, Legacy has succeeded because what we do is real, and we have fun doing it.
