Penn State Educational Partnership Program

GE Elfun Grant Funding

PEPP STUDENTS HELP BUILD THE ERIE BOAT

The local GE Elfun Society through Sharing the Gold awarded the PEPP program an $1800 grant for PEPP students from Wilson Middle School and Central High School to help build The Erie Boat, which is a special initiative at the Bayfront Center for Maritime Studies in Erie, PA.

Throughout the spring, every Tuesday after school, the students along with their tutors and supervising teachers were bused to the Bayfront Center for Maritime Studies to work on The Erie Boat. The 28-foot sailboat, which will be used as a floating classroom, was the indigenous fishing boat along Lake Erie's southern shore in the mid to late nineteenth century. In building the boat, students not only learned applied academic skills, but also got a feel for the life of the Great Lakes fishermen of that time. When the boat is finished, they will also have the fun of their first sail in the summer.

BAYFRONT CENTER FOR MARITIME STUDIES

BCMS The Bayfront Center for Maritime Studies (BCMS) is a 501 (c) 3 community-based organization that utilizes our region's rich maritime heritage and boat building traditions on beautiful Presque Isle Bay to reinforce traditional academic subjects, stress personal growth and citizenship and to introduce and apply valuable, marketable vocational and job site skills with inner city youth who are at risk for not reaching their potential.