Waves lapped against the dock as Carter Florence pushed a little sailboat into the water. Before long, he was out on Lake Erie, maneuvering the boat’s jib to catch wind gusts with his fellow classmates Nathan Dodge and Emmet Barley. They’re all students in a sailing summer camp hosted by the Foundry, a Cleveland-based organization that introduces youth to sailing and rowing.

The Foundry recently won a $3,500 grant from US Sailing, the national governing body for the sport, through the organization’s REACH initiative. The REACH initiative created a curriculum that uses sailing to teach concepts from science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). 

What does STEM have to do with sailing?

The initiative started about 12 years ago with the goal to use sailing to expose young people to careers in STEM. The books created as part of REACH’s curriculum were designed to complement Common Core science and math. Ideally, teachers can use modules from REACH’s books in class, and then collaborate with local sailing organizations to give students hands-on experiences that back up the lessons.

“With the STEM program, you know, measuring the sails and talking about the math of that, suddenly, that math is useful,” said Keaton Wallace, the Foundry’s sailing director. “They want to know how big their sail is because it’s going to help their boat move.”

Integrating STEM lessons helped bolster the Foundry’s year-round programming, Wallace said. Even when the weather makes sailing impossible, Foundry instructors can still teach hands-on lessons about measuring wind, buoyancy and the environment around Cleveland’s Lake Erie and Cuyahoga River.

Reaching out to Cleveland students

Sailing has a steep learning curve and equipment can be expensive, Wallace said. So the Foundry provides coaches, programming and boats to train public school students in the Cleveland area. The organization’s biggest priority is reaching out to youth who may not otherwise be exposed to sailing. Specifically, the Foundry’s state-level grant funding is for targeting students from low-income families. To do that, the Foundry has partnerships with schools across Cleveland. The organization’s partner school districts include the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. The summer camps are open to a wider group of young people. 

“Whether or not these kids stick with sailing now, this is their community, and Lake Erie will be here,” Wallace said. “They might not return to this sport tomorrow, but they might return in 30 years and take this knowledge with them.”

It’s about more than teaching sailing

The Foundry’s Executive Director Gina Trebilcock said the program is about more than teaching sailing and STEM. She said she hopes Cleveland’s youth will feel the same magic she’s felt on Lake Erie. 

“When those kids are out in that boat, and they turn around, and they see the city of Cleveland from the water, I mean, their whole world opens up,” she said.