The Maritime Technologies
Program was launched at Mar Vista
High School in Imperial Beach,
Calif., [see story, Page 68] and its
enrollees will graduate with all of
the domestic and international credentials necessary to enter the unlicensed ranks of the U.S. Merchant
Marine. It also is endorsed by the
U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift
Command, which has helped
develop the curriculum, and provided critical paid summer training
billets for the students, according
to Training Resources Ltd.
The Charleston Council is not
alone its encouragement of youth
participation and training in the
maritime industries and services.
Navy League councils across the
country sponsor and support
numerous Merchant Marine and
maritime education programs.
One of the Navy League’s
newest councils, the Pacific
Merchant Marine Council in
California, was chartered in
December 2006 with the stated
purpose of supporting the U.S.-flag
Merchant Marine, the nation’s maritime industry and maritime trade
organizations. The council, along
with the Sacramento Council,
sponsors a second Maritime
Technologies Program at Grant
Union High School in Sacramento.
Other similar efforts include the
Placer County, Calif., Council’s
sponsorship of the Naval Science
Department at California Maritime
Academy; the Stockton, Calif.,
Council’s sponsorship of the academy’s training ship Golden Bear;
the Long Island, N.Y., Council’s
sponsorship of the U.S. Merchant
Marine Academy at Kings Point;
the Portsmouth, N.H., Council’s
sponsorship of the Massachusetts
Maritime Academy; and the
Massachusetts Bay Council’s sponsorship of the academy’s Naval
Science Department.
Accomplishing the myriad goals
of the Generation M effort will be
no easy task, Brown noted. It will
require the long-term commitment
of the council; financial support
from members, individuals, community sponsors or other associations, charities or endowments;
and the ability to spread the word
about the program, and gain recognition for the effort’s successes, in
order to continue to build interest
and support.
But, he added, investment now
is more important than short-term
successes because the potential
payoff in the future — renewed
membership in the Navy League
and a new generation of potential
mariners, Sailors, Marines or Coast
Guardsmen — will be all the more
worthwhile. ■
