SEA in the NEWS
One Student’s Transformative Experience at SEA
By Elaina Hancock
UConn Today

Docking on December 23 in Honolulu after 38 days at sea aboard the SSV Robert C. Seamans, Carson Hill ’21 (CLAS) says his participation in the Sea Education Association (SEA) study abroad program was so monumental, it is almost indescribable.

Hello to everyone reading our blogs! This is Emily Benson and Nathan Ruel, two students aboard the Cramer as part of the C-301 class.

Happy Solstice! The sun has been spending less and less time in the sky recently; setting earlier and rising later as the Earth’s orbit tips the axis away from the sun.

As one of the stewards on board, I roll out of my bunk around 04:30 every other morning to make breakfast for the ship’s company. For a quiet and sleepy hour or so, I am just about the only person awake below deck, and this time alone in the galley inevitably fosters some good contemplation. As I remove the butcher paper from each carefully packed plum, I can’t help but notice the similarity to unwrapping presents on Christmas morning. When we anchored in Francis Bay I was surprised to notice holiday lights adorning the hills in the distance. I find it hard to fathom that back home my family and friends are experiencing snowfall, warm cocoa, and cozy sweaters.

So many feelings to feel.
So many thoughts to think.
So many experiences to process.

Greetings to our faithful blog readers and to Professor Erin Bryant!

Today all started with our friendly local engineer waking me up an 0600 to stand anchor watch with a couple of my watchmates.

The pandemic has altered futures and disrupted many students’ academic paths and potential jobs. I find myself at the center of this. In 2020 we all assumed it would pass like everything else and we could go back to “normal.” I was a sophomore at Smith College full of drive and hope, applying to over 20 internships for the summer and looking forward to my study abroad the following spring in 2021. One by one, each internship got canceled, never knowing if I even qualified for any of them and still, I had hope.

While in St Croix we spent some of our time trying to ground-truth aspects of the policy brief we wrote during the shore portion of the semester. First, we think it is important to give a summary of the paper for those of you who didn’t read it. Our policy brief, “MPAs to Hope Spots: Creating More Effective Protections for Marine Environments,” focused on how we could potentially improve the effectiveness of MPAs by implementing different aspects of Hope Spots, which are large marine protected areas designed in partnership with local stakeholders and supported by the Mission Blue Sylvia Earle Alliance with science, expeditions, and communications.

This morning, instead of receiving the regular sort of wakeup relaying time, weather outside, and finishing off with Are you awake?