Boston Harbor Explorers

Marine Education Summer Programming

Each summer, Save the Harbor hires a diverse staff of 35 local high school, college, and graduate aged youth and young adults to execute our Boston Harbor Explorers summer program. Boston Harbor Explorers is an experiential learning program to engage youth at 10 daily community based sites in exploring their local marine environment, encouraging them to engage in healthy outdoor activities, and administering our suite of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) and Humanities focused curriculum units.

Our daily community based sites include: Piers Park Sailing Center, Courageous Sailing Center, Camp Harbor View, Boston Children’s Museum, Quincy Recreation at Black’s Creek, BCYF Curley Community Center, Spectacle Island, George’s Island, Atlantic Wharf, and The Belle.

Our curriculum includes STEAM units such as: Fishing 101 and Flatfish Printing and Flounder Anatomy, archaeological explorations, the tide, and local shellfish, crustaceans, and invasive species. We have also incorporated arts units developed by acclaimed intertidal artist Andres Amador and environmental artist Robyn Reed to highlight the everchanging intertidal landscape and the effect of plastic pollution on the marine ecosystem.

We also work with humanities scholars and educators including storyteller Norah Dooley, harbor historian and song leader David Coffin, and author and historian Eric Jay Dolin to develop a Stories and Songs of the Sea curriculum, highlighting Boston’s rich maritime history, including stories of young men and women of many races and nationalities from the Age of Sail.

In Summer 2020, the 36 Boston-area high school and college students who worked for us created and shared engaging online content to connect our 120 youth program partners to Boston Harbor and the region’s waterfront. All of the virtual programs and activities they created during their adventures live on our new website page, Virtual Boston Harbor.

Check out the link below for exciting videos, scavenger hunts, activities and more!