First Writer’s Club is a program at CASP (Curley after school program) encouraging students to write as journalists. The club is run by Zachary Shaw, below is their first article written after a few sessions. A group of the students wrote about their experiences with the CASP sailing program. Look forward to some forthcoming missives from our aspiring writers – what will they write about next? The sailing program instruction is provided by the Curley’s David Vasile and with equipment provided by Courageous Sailing our students from the Curley K8 school get to enjoy sailing and kayaking about on Jamaica Plain Pond. Here is what they wrote:
Sailing Club on Jamaica Pond
11/21/13
This past spring, several students from the Curley k-8 school in Jamaica Plain participated in a sailing club, which offered sailing instruction and guidance to students after school. The group met twice every week from 3-6 in the afternoon at Jamaica Pond, and learned everything from the names of the different parts of the boat to how to actually sail with little adult guidance. Several students remarked on the different activities they engaged in, the general instruction of the adults, and the fun time that they had.
One student, Virginia, states “I came from a long line of sailors. Even before I joined Sailing, I was friends with swaying hulls and flapping sails, but I had only experienced a few kinds of boats before. Sailing at Jamaica Pond taught me new skills, and taught me about myself. I can’t wait to go show the ocean what I’ve got!”
Another student, Donald, also thoroughly enjoyed his experience sailing. “It was exciting because we got to learn about sailing. 
One Monday, we got to do ‘Free Play,’ which means that we got to sail boats, and do a boat challenge. On the last day, we got to eat pizza and go sailing! My favorite part of Sailing Club was doing the kayaking and row boating, and the most challenging part was learning about the parts of the boats.”
One more student, Mohammed, exclaimed “After a while, we got so good at sailing, that we were able to pilot a boat with just 2-3 people and no grown-ups! We ran sailing derbies sometimes – the sailing instructors put out life jackets on the water, and we raced to get as many as we could. My favorite thing in Sailing is when we did a race against another school because we got a chance to put our training to use!”
The Curley School intends to run the Sailing Club once again in the spring semester, so that students will have another chance to further improve their sailing skills.
First Writer’s Club
Curley K8 School
3 comments
Richard says:
December 11, 2013 at 8:06 pm (UTC 0)
Virginia, Donald, and Mohammad:
Thanks for writing about what sailing instruction has meant to you. I like the way you went from Jamacia Pond, Virginia, to the Ocean. I know a girl who sailed around the world, by herself. Her name is Jessica Watson and she lives in Australia.
That was a great description, Mohammad, of chasing the floating life jackets. That would be hard to do on the ocean, but perfect for Jamacia Pond.
And Donald, you brought in all the other, related activities–even Pizza!
Keep sailing, kids, and keep writing.
Captain Richard Lathrop (one member of the long string of Virginia’s sailing ancestors)
Jibe Ho!
layla hijab cable says:
December 11, 2013 at 10:39 pm (UTC 0)
Great to see Writing getting the attention it deserves. Keep sailing and writing.
Shannon Clark says:
January 3, 2014 at 8:52 pm (UTC 0)
Great Job guys!! Can’t wait to read more!