Summer Camp Promotes Maritime Jobs

High school students on the upper Texas Gulf coast will get a first-hand look at maritime careers in their own backyard this summer.

Texas A&M University’s Texas Sea Grant College Program is a partner in Camp SeaPort, a weeklong day camp run by the Port of Port Arthur. The camp is the brainchild of Port Commissioner Linda Turner Spears, who recognized that while existing career outreach programs in the area focused on the other major sectors of the local economy, the petrochemical and service industries, they did little to promote maritime job opportunities. With the support of the other Port Commissioners and the Port of Port Arthur, the camp was launched in 2008.

While the port has remained economically stable through the most recent economic downturn, the community of Port Arthur faces a 15 percent unemployment rate, decreasing high school graduation rates and a declining population. Camp SeaPort’s aim is to encourage young people to stay in the community after they graduate from high school.

“It’s an outreach opportunity for our local community, not just for at-risk kids, but all youth in our area,” said Deputy Port Director Larry Kelley. “We want them to see that there are many, many jobs, and you don’t have to go to sea for a month at a time, there are a lot of land-side jobs, too.”

The teens interact with a wide range of maritime professionals, all of whom volunteer their time. Kelley said that while no two years are the same, past groups have met with tug boat and barge operators, listened to presentations from the local pilots’ association, visited working shipyards and all the area’s ports, been introduced to maritime programs at nearby universities, and spent time aboard U.S. Coast Guard vessels and at the Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit to learn about the skills needed for the different positions there.

He said the students are shown the vital role of a port as the nexus of multi-modal transfers — ship to barge, ship to truck, ship to rail, and vice versa — and the complicated logistics involved in moving cargo through the port.

“We hope that, after the camp is over, the students have a fundamental understanding of how the transportation system works in our area, and how dependent our region, state and national economy are on marine transportation.”

Terrie Looney, the Jefferson and Chambers County Coastal and Marine Resources Agent for Texas Sea Grant and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, is a co-director of the program. She developed the marine science curriculum, helps with program logistics, and provides the activities for one day of the program, when the students board a waterborne education vessel and take an ecological tour of the Trinity River with hands-on activities to learn about coastal resource management.

“Most of the careers have specialized training, but many can bring the kids on pretty much out of high school,” Looney said. “The students learn that they don’t have to leave the area to find good-paying jobs.”

Camp SeaPort takes applications from students in grades 8-12 during the month of May. The camp, which is free for the students and includes meals and a stipend, will be held July 7-11, 2014. More information is available from Judy Bettis at 409-983-2011 or jbettis@portofportarthur.com.

Texas Sea Grant’s Terrie Looney, second from left, leads students on a seining activity on the Trinity Bay marsh to teach them about the local ecology and some of the science behind maritime issues.

Texas Sea Grant is a unique partnership that unites the resources of the federal government, the State of Texas and universities across the state to create knowledge, tools, products and services that benefit the economy, the environment and the citizens of Texas. It is administered through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and is one of 33 university-based Sea Grant Programs around the country. Texas Sea Grant is a non-academic research center in the College of Geosciences at Texas A&M University. The program’s mission is to improve the understanding, wise use and stewardship of Texas coastal and marine resources.