TEAMWORK ON THE LAKES: Sea Cadets helping research scientists
August 9, 2007
BY EMILIA ASKARI
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
Some of 13-year-old Richard Cover's friends tease him about taking part in an after-school program called the Sea Cadets, taunting him by saying the name of the group sounds a bit wimpy.
But the teens might change their minds if they could see the Richmond boy in his uniform, checking the oil pressure and coolant level in the massive engine that powers the 80-foot former Navy training vessel as it churns across Lake Huron, 12 miles from shore.
The ship, the Pride of Michigan, is where Richard and about 11 other metro Detroit youths are spending part of their summer learning seamanship and scuba diving through the Sea Cadets' Great Lakes division, based in the Cranbrook Institute of Science in Bloomfield Hills.
They're joined by a handful of cadets from across the country for one of the premier maritime training programs in the world.
The Sea Cadets program is similar to junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, which operates military training programs at high schools across the country. But unlike Junior ROTC the focus isn't clearly military but rather to learn about history and boating.
While a few adults onboard provide suggestions and training as needed, the teens have their hands on the ship's wheel. They also take turns recording data in the ship's log and keeping watch throughout the night.
"A lot of kids my age can't do this," said Richard, who will be a ninth-grader at St. Peter's Lutheran School in Richmond this fall and is thinking of a career in the Navy.
Boot camp
After a two-week summer boot camp offered at various locations across the country, about 10,000 Sea Cadets -- 30% of who are girls -- can choose from an array of advanced training programs, such as those offered aboard the Pride of Michigan. The cost to students aboard the Pride of Michigan is about $150 a week; the remaining expenses picked up by grants from private foundations or the U.S. government.
Applicants can be as young as 11, but they must be 13 to go out on a boat. Passing grades in school are required, as is a willingness to follow orders.
For applicants to the diving programs aboard the Pride of Michigan, one of three cadet boats in the Great Lakes, a scientific inclination also is a plus. In addition to developing maritime skills, the cadets are helping research scientists from area universities and museums study the archaeology, ecology and geology of the Great Lakes.
"If we can give a kid confidence, self-esteem that's our goal," Michael Ford, executive director of the Sea Cadets, said last month. "If he goes into the services that's great, if not that's OK, too. A lot of kids come in looking for guidance, direction and a purpose. We offer that."
Pride and confidence
In the pilothouse of the ship last month, Luke Clyburn, a onetime banker and riverboat worker from White Lake Township who has run the Sea Cadets Great Lakes' division for 30 years, suggests that cadet Jessica Hadash, 16, of White Lake Township, take the helm.
"I don't think you could pry her fingers off that wheel," he says.
"No, sir!" said Jessica, who, like Richard, puts up with teasing from friends who don't understand her passion for the Sea Cadets.
"They see that you wear a uniform all day. They see marching and taking orders," said Jessica, who attends Ladywood High School in Livonia and hopes to be a Navy doctor. "I see the camaraderie, the teamwork."
Contact EMILIA ASKARI at easkari@freepress.com.
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For information
• For information about the Sea Cadets, go to www.seacadets.org. Click on Find a Local Unit and Michigan for a list of 21 units in the state.
• For a look at the range of advanced Sea Cadets programs offered, go to http://compass.seacadets.org.
• The next Pride of Michigan expedition is Friday through Aug. 17. All spots are filled. Applicants are being sought for the Cranbrook-based Sea Cadets unit and for advanced sessions aboard the Pride of Michigan.
• For information about the July expedition, including details of the scientific findings, go to www.cranbrook.edu and click on science institute.
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