Great Lakes sailing jobs explored as post-high-school alternative

rather of giving up on his dream to travel the earth and the open waters, Berends found a fresh path. Berends and close to 70 other students from Grand Haven, Muskegon Heights Academy and other area schools attended the Maritime Career Day Wednesday at the Mart Dock on 560 Mart St. in Muskegon. The Mart Dock, Port City Marine Services, Andrie Inc., Muskegon County and the city of Muskegon sponsored the event. The career day gave students a luck to tour several vessels, including two tug boats and a 600-foot-long barge boat used to transport char, sandpaper and stones among other materials. The career sidereal day included several captains of the vessels who shared stories of life sailing the Great Lakes. “ This is amazing to have here, ” Berends said. “ This gets people more concerned in maritime activities, more concern in the urine and more interested in their submit. I ‘m very excited and pumped for this. ” Berends was so enamored with the go that he plans to pursue sailing as a career. “ I want to be able to see everything, ” Berends said. “ It ‘s adequate pay, you ‘re not paying rend. You ‘re on a ship all day, you get food for free, indeed with that, I ‘ll be able to take that money and travel the world. ” The tour opened with an insertion from Ed Hogan, frailty president of operations of Port City Marine Services, and Captain Ed Wiltse ampere well as others in the diligence. The experts in the sphere stressed the advantages of life sailing on the water, and the importance of having other options besides college for life after high school. Kriesten Kennedy, a counselor at Muskegon Heights Academy, said the theme of offering students another potential post-high-school pathway alternatively of college is significant. The group of students from the Muskegon area comprised of junior and senior students who could possibly take advantage of the opportunity, she said. “ The biggest thing is exposure, ” she said. “ And learning about other opportunities that are out there that are n’t necessarily geared toward you having to have a four-year degree. “ so ( it ‘s ) trying to breakthrough that mentality because for a distribute of students, ( college ) is not a naturalistic choice, so it actually comes down to exposure and it ‘s good in your backyard. ” Hogan began his sailing career at 19 after graduating from North Muskegon and a short least sandpiper at Muskegon Community College.

He said he was grateful for the opportunities the industry gave to him and wanted to pass that cognition on. “ We think there are a draw of kids that do n’t know about this opportunity and other non-traditional opportunities that are out there, ” Hogan said. “ We thought we would have a career day so we could get the word out to folks that there are early things out there. “ Whether they choose to go into a maritime field or it just gets them thinking about other things that are out there, it ‘s worth it. ” To pursue a career as a mariner, one must obtain a Merchant Mariner Credential which certifies them legally able to work in the shipboard merchant marine diligence. With the certificate, mariners can work in the pack of cards, engineer or shop steward ‘s departments of a embark. The deck crew focuses on seafaring, the engineer department is concerned with the propulsion and alimony of the ship, while the custodian ‘s department focuses on supplies and food services. Hogan said it is important for students to see what careers were available to them in their backyard. “ We want to plowshare these things locally, ” he said. “ We do n’t see as many kids in Muskegon taking advantage of this opportunity. We ‘ve got guys from all over the country, but we do n’t seem to attract guys from this sphere. ” Hogan besides stressed that many unlike paths are available for getting into the discipline. One of those options is attending the Great Lakes Maritime Academy. The average depart wage for Great Lakes mariners is $ 10,000 monthly, according to the Great Lakes Maritime Academy web site. freshman mariners could make up to $ 70,000 in their first class. Max McKee, president of Mart Dock in Muskegon, said he knows most of the students wo n’t seek a career in the field, but he hoped they ‘d experienced something they ‘d remember for a long time.

“ It ‘s not merely to show these kids an opportunity to be out on the Great Lakes sailing on a vessel, but it ‘s educational, ” he said. “ Most of the kids today are n’t going to be working on a great Lakes vessel, but they learned something today. ”