As logistics for a typical entire-class field trip have been complicated by the pandemic, Inland Seas Education Association (ISEA) in Suttons Bay is offering a small-scale field trip option this fall called the Great Lakes Discovery Schoolship program. 

“We are hoping to reach both teachers with small groups and parents with school-aged children for this program,” ISEA Program Coordinator Stephanie Rustem tells the Leelanau Ticker. The program is open, for example, to small groups such as in-person learning pods, homeschool groups and individual families choosing a virtual learning option for their children.

Rustem explains that the smaller-scale, hands-on Great Lakes Discovery Schoolship Program is similar the experience students would receive on a full Schoolship program, with a goal to increase awareness of the Great Lakes and the development of stewards. “They still gain a unique insight into the basic ecology of the Great Lakes by collecting and analyzing samples including fish, plankton, and organisms that live along the bottom of the lake. They also participate in raising the sails and steering the ship,” Rustem says.

“The main difference, of course, are the COVID-19 precautions we are taking,” she adds. ISEA has reduced capacity by 50 percent and everyone on board is required to wear a mask. “Groups can be of any size when they sign up, but groups will rotate through the stations so there won’t be any mixing between groups that don’t know each other.”

Programs run through mid-October at a cost of $15 per person. The program schedule is found here. 

Meanwhile, for larger school groups who traditionally come aboard the Schoolship in the fall and cannot attend this year, ISEA is creating Great Lakes-related virtual content for teachers to share with their students. Live virtual conversations between classes and ISEA staff will also be available.

The Great Lakes Discovery Schoolship program is not open to non-student general public participants, but those who want to sail with Inland Seas this fall can charter the ship at a deep discount.