Learning by Doing: Brooks Students Immerse Themselves in Hurricane Island Life

Learning by Doing: Brooks Students Immerse Themselves in Hurricane Island Life 

By Michaela Beckman

Warm weather brings warm faces. Three high school interns from the Brooks School made their way through the Hurricane Island community early this summer, lending a helping hand and an excited spirit. The Brooks School has a professional summer internship program: Students on the Forefront. It opens doors for rising seniors to explore career paths through direct experience. On Hurricane Island, Alder, Kevin, and Phoebe dipped their toes into the ocean of marine science and sustainability work. For Lead Educator Claire, who coordinated the students' schedules, the goal was to “learn about the island, the sustainability needs to live on an island like Hurricane, and [to] get some career exploration… specifically in aquaculture and marine sciences”, Claire said.

From left: Kevin, Alder, and Phoebe ready to powerwash.

The Brooks students rotated through nearly every corner of Hurricane Island’s operation. They tended to the garden, worked with the facilities team, helped the galley, and visited the aquaculture farm with the research team. 

Alder had interests in marine biology and ornithology, making Hurricane Island immediately stand out among the internship options. "It sounded like the perfect opportunity," she said. "I've always been an avid fan of nature."

Not only did she engage with her interests, but she left with an understanding of sustainability. "It's hard to be entirely sustainable," Alder reflected. "I think Hurricane definitely does a really good job of that."

Learning and living on an island makes sustainability tangible. Instead of sitting in classrooms talking about environmental responsibility, the Brooks students experienced it firsthand. Hurricane Island uses sustainable systems which include composting toilets, greywater marsh applications, lithium-ion battery use, and food waste management. The Brooks students tracked food waste with the kids after meals, helped clear waste from the outhouses with the facilities team, and cleaned the biofouling from the aquaculture farm nets. "The things that I don't think about at home are the things we think about here," Phoebe said. Those everyday responsibilities became important lessons in stewardship and environmentalism.

Taking care of the garden under the guidance of Briar, Hurricane Island’s garden educator.

Kevin found himself more conscious of human impact from everyday activities. "Living on Hurricane for these past two weeks has…made me more aware of how much can be done to save energy, to recycle, and save water,” he said. 

Kevin recounted working with the aquaculture team, where he helped clean and sort scallops and oysters. Hurricane Island utilizes a 3.2-acre aquaculture farm for ongoing research of these bivalves. Recent efforts include scallop handling methods research and growth monitoring. "I got to see how data is tracked on them… I think that will always stick with me." Only time will tell when Kevin comes across another scallop or oyster. What is certain, though, is that he will see beyond the shell to the research, care, and stewardship that supports the knowledge behind these bivalves.

An unexpected lesson was in community, something Phoebe found just as valuable as the scientific knowledge she gained. Living and working alongside Hurricane Island staff showed her what it looks like when everyone contributes toward a shared purpose. "I feel like I've learned the most from just the people here," she said. "Everyone's here for the same purpose. Everyone wants to contribute all the time and help each other out." This highlights the essence of island living experienced on Hurricane Island that is unlike any other. 

Because there were only three students, Claire was able to tailor the internship around their interests. A trip to Seal Island resulted, where the students observed puffins and other seabirds in their natural habitat. The excursion became one of the highlights of Alder’s time on Hurricane. "I love going bird watching on boats," she said, referring back to her ornithology interests. 

Phoebe thought back to what education looks like for her. "There's so many things where I'm like, 'Wow, I never would have learned this in a classroom,'" she said. That kind of experiential learning is exactly what Hurricane Island hopes students of all ages take away. 

"It was super great to have them," Claire said. "They were always happy to jump right into anything, and I think that really fits the culture of Hurricane."

As the internship came to an end, each student carried home something different. Whether it be new scientific knowledge, leadership skills, career inspiration, or a stronger sense of community, together, their experiences reflected the power of experiential learning. 

For future learners on Hurricane, the Brooks students have left surprisingly consistent advice: Come ready to work, stay curious, and don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty.

Kevin, Alder, and Phoebe leaving the island as changed learners. 

Letters from Hurricane Island: Kate Murphy, 2026 Aqueous Fellow

Kate Murphy (she/her)

Aqueous Fellow

McGill University

Hi Everyone! I’m Kate, and I am a rising senior at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. This summer, I am working on Hurricane Island as part of the Aquaculture Research Institute’s Aquaculture Experiential Opportunities for Undergraduate Students Fellowship. 

As part of the AqEOUS fellowship, I am completing a research project that utilizes the two-eyed seeing framework to investigate the impact of handling practices on the health of sea scallops within scallop aquaculture. My study aims to better understand how environmental exposure affects scallops' feeding capacity and metabolic health. To do this, I am hoping to look at how sea scallops' filtration rate changes when exposed to various environmental stressors. With sea scallops from Hurricane Island’s experimental lease and our new field research station’s flowing seawater laboratory, I am working to develop a methodology that can help increase the understanding of sea scallops' care needs. 

Now, more than halfway through my time here at Hurricane, I can confidently say I have learned more about scallops than I ever thought I would, and I have definitely grown a fondness for the bivalve. This opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of scallop aquaculture has been truly wonderful. A way I have tried to better cultivate my understanding is by conversing with different aquaculture farmers throughout Maine about their experiences. It’s been super interesting to learn more about different farming practices and gain insight into the development of Maine’s working waters. Through these conversations, it’s become clear to me that aquaculture, especially scallop aquaculture, has great potential to elicit a reciprocal relationship between Maine’s people and its environment.

Sunset rainbow from the south end of the island

This last note is part of the reason I am so grateful to have this opportunity to work and learn on Hurricane Island this summer. Fortunate to have grown up visiting Midcoast Maine, I’ve gained a deep appreciation for the area. Living on Hurricane has helped me gain a whole new perspective on the place I grew up visiting and affirmed my goal for a future in marine science. I’m excited to see what insight my final project can provide and look forward to soaking up my last few weeks on the Island. 

Cheers,
Kate Murphy

Letters from Hurricane Island: Cyprus Whitaker, 2026 Aqueous Fellow

Cyprus Whitaker (they/he)

Aqueous Fellow

Oregon State University (Major: Environmental Science, Minor: Sociology)

Welcome to Hurricane Island!

I’m here at Hurricane Island as an Aqueous Fellow, which is a program through University of Maine that merges Indigenous Science with Aquaculture research. As soon as I heard that one of the Aqueous projects was on Hurricane Island, I jumped at the opportunity. I came to Hurricane Island to learn more about aquaculture, spend time outside, and be a part of the amazing community here. Already, I’m having an amazing time whether I’m elbows deep in a lantern net or teaching students.

Cleaning scallops on the farm

I’m designing a two-eyed seeing curriculum that challenges students to consider both indigenous knowledge and western science when thinking about environmental solutions. I also run spat bag lessons where students dig through a spat bag for juvenile scallops, identifying interesting organisms and contributing towards a broader community science project. I’ve been shadowing existing lessons on Hurricane Island and doing my own research to create a hands-on lesson plan.

Here I am teaching students about the scallop farm

I love the ocean and learning about all the fascinating creatures right off our coast. I want to be a part of teaching the next generation of scientists, policy makers, and leaders that change the world. Being here on Hurricane Island, I feel that I’m able to make a difference teaching students about the wonders of the ocean and aquaculture!

Best fishes, 

Cyprus

Letters from Hurricane Island: Kazumi Haag, 2026 Research Intern

Kazumi Haag (she/her)

Bates College Research Intern (Major: Environmental Studies & Political Science)

Greetings from Hurricane on a lovely foggy morning! 

This summer on Hurricane, I am working on an early benthic phase lobster trapping project that centers on young lobster populations off our shores. If all goes to plan, we will catch lobsters that are between 20 and 60 millimeters in four traps that we have set up in Gaston’s Cove, in deeper and shallower waters. These are a new trap design. We hope to further the work that began in New Hampshire with collaborators recently to help find out more about lobsters! 

Madison, Noah, and Kazumi on the Skiff going out to haul traps

I am two years into college and have not spent much time with lobsters thus far in terms of doing research on them. Don’t get me wrong, crabs and mollusks are super cool, but studying a crustacean that is so key for Maine is an amazing opportunity! Just last week, we set up all of the traps and this week we are beginning to sample them for lobsters and other creatures. I am not only looking forward to what we find and to working with lobsters, but also learning more about lobster ecology and anatomy!

  Lobster trap (left) and Noah & Kazumi hauling up a trap onto the deck to collect data (right)

I have only been on Hurricane Island for a week, but I already realize how unique it is and how much of a community culture exists here. I chose to come to Hurricane this summer when my professor and major advisor, Dr. Justin Baumann, who sometimes does research here, mentioned it to us in class. I hopped on Zoom for an info session with Will and Madison, and I was hooked! Here on the island, I love swimming or being out at the aquaculture farm, hiking to Sunset Rock, and chatting with friends overlooking the wonders in Hurricane Sound and Penobscot Bay! 

Keeping calm and lobstering on, 

Kazumi

Young Artists on Display at Rock City Cafe Express their Scientific Observations through Creativity Amidst a Changing Environment

Young Artists on Display at Rocky City Cafe Express their Scientific Observations through Creativity Amidst a Changing Environment

Hurricane Island Center for Science and Leadership Partners with Center for Maine Contemporary Art and Rock City Cafe

Hurricane Island Center for Science and Leadership recently ran an Art and Marine Science program for high school students on Hurricane Island. This summer program is designed for students who are passionate about ocean ecosystems and interested in gaining skills and practice in scientific communication through the use of visual art. Throughout the week, student participants dove into marine ecosystems and honed their observational skills to create beautiful, communicative, and impactful artwork. They explored the invertebrates inhabiting the seaweed covered intertidal zone on Hurricane Island, the planktonic communities of the Gulf of Maine, and took a deep dive into the recreational and commercial uses of marine resources, including lobstering and the growing aquaculture industry. In collaboration with Center for Maine Contemporary Art (CMCA) and Rock City Cafe this year, the students artwork is displayed for public viewing in Rock City Cafe in Rockland. 

Each year, students in the Hurricane Island Art and Marine Science program create multiple individual art pieces including scientific illustrations, cyanotype prints, scallop structures, and many others. The students also work collaboratively to create one large piece of art to portray a certain ocean issue or topic. The art focuses on the growing aquaculture industry in Maine (specifically scallop aquaculture, one of the focuses of Hurricane Island’s research) and how it relates and interacts with vital fisheries, highlighting the potential for industry diversification to support more resilient coastal communities.

Center for Maine Contemporary Art is dedicated to advancing contemporary art in Maine through direct engagement with artists and the public, creating exceptional exhibitions and education programs that communicate the transformative power of the art of our time. CMCA’s Education department partners with Rock City Cafe to exhibit works that support the next generation of contemporaries.

Hurricane Island Center for Science and Leadership Boasts A Summer of Aquaculture and Science Learning

Hurricane Island Center for Science and Leadership Boasts A Summer of Aquaculture and Science Learning

Hurricane Island Center for Science and Leadership maintains an experimental aquaculture lease site in Penobscot Bay to focus work on aquaculture research and education for all ages. The work accomplished in using this lease provides those involved with unique opportunities to engage in aquaculture research projects, explore aquaculture professionally, and establish themselves as a part of the valuable waterfront communities of Maine. Hurricane Island’s experimental research lease is on a 3.2-acre aquaculture farm on the south waters of the Island and is conducting research on the emerging industry of farmed sea scallops.

This summer was filled with aquaculture on Hurricane Island. The organization hosted three total aquaculture workshops open and accessible to the public, with an additional workshop to come in fall, inviting individuals to experience aquaculture firsthand and visit the farm site off of Hurricane Island themselves. These free one-day workshops allowed participants to dive into aquaculture growing methods, spat collection for sea scallops, and more. Attendees came from a wide range of backgrounds–from professional oyster farmers to professors to individuals who had no previous knowledge of aquaculture or marine biology. These workshops exist to increase accessibility to and knowledge of the field of aquaculture and scientific research, furthering Hurricane Island’s mission.

Noah Schiller working with spat bags

For ten weeks over the summer, Hurricane Island was additionally particularly delighted to host two AquEOUS Fellows, Savara Shrivastava from the College of William and Mary, and Noah Schiller from Pitzer College, in collaboration with the Aquaculture Research Institute at the University of Maine. The AquEOUS Fellowship is an immersive program for undergraduate students interested in gaining hands-on experience in aquaculture. It focuses on building skills required for successful careers in aquaculture, fisheries, natural resource management, and marine extension work. 

During their Fellowship on Hurricane Island, Noah and Savara helped with aquaculture farm labor on the site, engaged visitors and students in aquaculture-related research programming, and assisted local researchers with long-term ecological monitoring data collection and analysis. At the culmination of the program, Noah and Savara had the opportunity to work with Hurricane Island research staff to design their own research project, collect and analyze data, and transform these visuals into final presentations at the University of Maine’s Darling Marine Center AquEOUS Symposium on August 7th. 

Savara Shrivastava with lantern nets

The Hurricane Island Fellows’ presentations showcased the interdisciplinary nature of Hurricane Island’s approach to aquaculture. While Savara tested the efficacy of a novel biodegradable gear cover technology, developed by Ocean Farm Supply, designed specifically to reduce biofouling on aquaculture gear, Noah focused on refining methods of integrating scallop aquaculture practices into Hurricane Island educational programming—one of the focuses of the organization. Both Fellows went above and beyond with their projects; Noah created an interactive map, accessible via a QR code on his presentation, displaying coordinates where Hurricane Island educational programs have collected juvenile scallop larvae since 2013. These larvae, explained on Noah’s poster, are then counted, measured, sorted, and incorporated into our experimental aquaculture farm. Savara programmed statistical tests comparing biofouling communities on two different aquaculture sites: Hurricane Island’s experimental aquaculture site and a standard lease, Pen Bay Farmed Scallops, in Stonington, ME. 

In addition to working with adults and college aged students, Hurricane Island emphasizes aquaculture-based education opportunities for high school aged students and younger. One opportunity for younger students this summer was a high school program focused on aquaculture and fisheries that allowed students to obtain a level two youth micro-credential in aquaculture from the University of Maine upon completion. The weeklong program focused on education surrounding water quality, biology, animal husbandry, aquaculture systems, and economically important fishers in the Gulf of Maine.

While many students partake individually in Hurricane Island’s programming, the organization also partners with middle schools, high schools, and colleges directly. This year, Hurricane Island is thrilled to have obtained funding to host high school students from the Mid Coast School of Technology. This workforce development effort will focus on aquaculture systems as part of a marine technology class, allowing students to experience a sense of place in Penobscot Bay, become familiar with aquaculture lease operations, establish themselves as science and technology leaders, and jump start their lessons in the class for the remainder of the school year. 

A New Leader with New Ways of Thinking About Leadership

Will Galloway Joins Hurricane Island Center for Science and Leadership as Education Director, Leads North Haven & Vinalhaven Teacher Professional Development Program Funded by Maine Dept of Education

East Boothbay, Maine - On an uncharacteristically beautiful mid-April Monday, applause erupted from a conference room inside the Graham Shimmield Residence Hall at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences. Inside, 13 educators from Vinalhaven and North Haven had just come to the conclusion of Phase I of a three-day Climate Education Professional Development Grant funded by the Maine Department of Education and delivered by Hurricane Island Center for Science and Leadership.

“This has been really helpful to work with Hurricane. There’s been time to connect with fellow educators and time for things that don’t really happen in our day to day - especially in a small school where you have so many different roles to take on.” said Amanda Labelle, North Haven Community School’s Arts & Enrichment Coordinator. 

Temptations of April break aside, the educators came together from their respective islands to collaborate on integrating hands-on, climate-focused, project-based learning into their classrooms. This opportunity not only strengthened the professional skills of island teachers, it allowed them to coalesce and build relationships to one another internally across departments as well as across islands. 

Bryan Feezor, Assistant Principal at the Vinalhaven School shared “There’s not a lot of people who face similar realities and know what it’s like to go from a 6 year old to High School to Middle School in just a morning.”

The program is called Teaching Resilience: Professional Development for Climate Curricula, and brings in a diverse range of teaching talents including science, statistics, the arts, and included humanities teachers such as North Haven Community School’s Fred Emerick - “We’ve got a project idea that’s in place and ready to begin and I have a model for continuing that beyond this project and a network who I knew but didn't have a relationship with before.”

Newly at the helm of the Education Team for Hurricane Island is Will Galloway - With over 30 years of experience as an educator, mediator, consultant, and most recently as the Head of School for Watershed in Camden, Maine. Galloway’s talent is bringing people together, and that talent has already been put to great use, and will continue as Hurricane Island anticipates the busiest year of programs yet. Whether it is bringing together families, schools, nonprofits, for-profits, students or community organizations, Will hopes to create opportunities for convergence. 

Will has a knack for understanding the nuances of leadership as well, “Leadership is the capacity to demonstrate fluid expertise. Which means knowing when to lead and knowing when to join. It’s not one or the other but knowing how to be a part of, and support a group and also knowing when a group looks to you for direction.” and as Hurricane Island continues to evolve and think about how to make change in the world, leadership matters, “It’s not a leadership that imposes but a leadership of supporting.” shared Galloway 

He has a track record of success in implementing community-wide sustainability initiatives in midcoast Maine and that track record stretches back to his time in the Peace Corps in Thailand. These successes only come from a sense of coming together in consensus and harmony  

“I see Hurricane Island as a really good opportunity to build on the convergence that happens on the island, both with the staff and the students. My hope is to see the sense of community we create here be fully realized when participants return home. I want to use this experience to help plant the seed of what is possible when engaging with one another and their environment”.

Galloway plans to bring a more explicit awareness to the community-building, leadership development aspect of Hurricane Island - something that many feel is necessary against the current backdrop of American and world politics. Concepts like social emotional learning and resiliency draw on moral growth, sense of self, and relationships, and these ideas are increasingly being quantified and prioritized in formal and experiential education alike.

“Through our work at Hurricane Island, our participants gain confidence and grow more vulnerable, they have the courage to engage with one another on a deeper level, and leave seeing one another differently.”

This approach to consider the relationships between individuals and groups, different perspectives, and how to support one another is key to reaching the consensus necessary to approach the politicized large-scale issues posed by climate change in coastal communities like Vinalhaven and North Haven. 

In Phase I of this program teachers workshopped with leaders in place-based education and found guidance around curricular design in climate specific content areas, with the ultimate goal of designing a learning project to be implemented in the remainder of the school year. These projects were timely, responsive and relevant to the major changes happening in Penobscot Bay and the Gulf of Maine at large

With an eye towards the fisheries, Vinalhaven science teacher Ruth Brooker, is looking at the lobster industry. In Vinalhaven, lobstering is an extremely visible and important part of the local economy and lobster boats dominate the harbor. “We’re focusing on lobster and sea temperature data” shared Brooker. A Georgia transplant in her first year at Vinalhaven School, she is becoming fully immersed in the ecology around her - just a week earlier she had students participating in marine field research with Hurricane Island, part of a NOAA-funded collaborative study on Maine scallops which includes Colby, Bates and Maine Center for Coastal Studies.

Break out sessions led by the Hurricane Island staff included year-round Hurricane Island Educator Claire Gabel, who is returning from the 2023 season. She took teachers on an ecology walk and with prompts of ‘what do you notice, what makes you wonder, and what does this remind you of?’; and Assistant Education Director Kyle Amergian led a foray into the intertidal zone and introduced the five E’s of teaching - Engage, Explain, Explore, Elaborate, and Evaluate.

North Haven Community School Project Coordinator Maddie Hallowell is also considering environmental impacts on her island - with a background in environmental monitoring and her experience with surveyors and drone use. Her idea is to collect “ consistent and regular measurements on coastal erosion around North Haven with students” with a component of outreach to seasonal and year round residents. “I have access to students of all ages, and I think students are interested in this especially after the storms this winter.” said Hallowell. 

It is important to consider the necessity for scientific literacy as well. Teacher presentations transitioned into goals and desired outcomes, this was evident as a Vinalhaven math teacher David McKechnie offered the collaborative services of his statistics class; “Many projects are going to be using data and my goal is to help the various projects in both islands use their numbers in the most efficient, careful, realistic and scientific ways possible. My superpower is my students … No exaggerations or assumptions allowed!”

Thinking about the projects goes hand in hand with considering the results; for Ruth Brooker on Vinalhaven “One of my successes would be students that are able to communicate understand past historical trends in temperatures in the Gulf of Maine and lobster populations and identifying a correlation for future comparison - we could start a community conversation about trends and have interviews with what folks see now”. 

Likewise for Maddie Hallowell and her coastal erosion project, “My success would be creating a data collection protocol sheet and making nice graphic pieces that community members could see, creating consistent data and perhaps a suggestion sheet for landowners on how to mitigate erosion. This could include planting native plants, landscape changes, or even things not to do.”.

The teachers will be supported by Hurricane Island Center for Science and Leadership, which has year round professional researchers and educators with time set aside for this collaboration. Local community organizations will play a role as well, partnerships have been identified with Vinalhaven Land Trust, North Haven Conservation Partners, The Climate Working Group and the Town of North Haven.

These projects are now entering Phase II, wherein the research projects will be organized and carried out and in Phase III these teachers will come together again on Hurricane Island in late summer to share their experiences implementing their community-based projects.

Assistant Education Director Kyle Amergian was ready to lean in with everything that Hurricane Island has to offer, “We’re excited for the next step in all of this and hope that you’ll utilize me. I’m ready to come help and put these plans into action.”. This offer of support includes access to Hurricane Island’s scientific and educational resources, which includes a fleet of vessels with scientific gear to deploy and take oceanographic measurements and samples. It also includes staff such as Amergian, who is the Assistant Director of the organization’s Education Department, as well as the Hurricane Island’s Science & Research team, led by Dr. Anya Hopple. 

Sitting just a few miles away from both Vinalhaven and North Haven, the staff and educators of Hurricane Island are equally familiar with the opportunities and challenges presented by the island landscape and local ecology. Hurricane Island’s Research and Education staff are no strangers to the classrooms and coastlines of either island and as such they are an ideal connector for this professional development opportunity. 

North Haven science teacher Sam Taggart summed up the overarching theme of the effort, “You’re trying to get people to think about and care about what is going on around them”. This motivation combined with a long overdue sense of creating inter-island relationships could be felt even by the end of the 3 days at Bigelow. Amanda Labelle, Arts & Enrichment Coordinator for North Haven shared that “finding our throughlines in these trainings will help us in the future because we will have established a process of collaborative practices with our disciplines and be able to feel like that’s something we can continue to do. We can use this as an opportunity to generate that continued collaboration in this hands-on interdisciplinary approach.”.
For more information about the Maine Department of Education Climate Education Professional Development Grants contact Teddy Lyman, Climate Education Specialist at the Maine DOE Office of Innovation at theodore.lyman@maine.gov

Microcredentials on Hurricane Island

Microcredentials on Hurricane:

Training for Maine’s Marine Economy Future

Chloe Finger is a bonafide marine engineer. Borrowing from her growing up on the schooner J&E Riggin and her expertise from working last year on Hurricane Island’s Facilities team, this week she completed an oyster grader on island to efficiently sort the oysters that we grow on the Hurricane Island aquaculture farm. She’ll begin using this tool with Micah Conkling, her fellow Aquaculture Farm Assistant this season who brought oyster-farming and aquaculture-development research experience to the farm, but only after he finishes removing the encrusting organisms that foul the nets that we use to grow our scallops.

While Chloe and Micah’s tasks this season varied weekly—from boat handling to animal husbandry to SCUBA diving on our farm’s moorings—their duties for the season overlapped with the hands-on aquaculture curricula that we designed with the Hurricane Island Education team for this year’s two cohorts of high-school aquaculture workshop participants. In all, the skill-building Micah, Chloe, and our aquaculture students experienced is part of innovative occupational-development programming in vocational education: namely, that of “microcredentials.”

Microcredentials are certifications of proficiency awarded once a learner of any kind completes a training that an established institution recognizes as sufficiently rigorous. In our case, Hurricane Island has been building a curricular pathway with UMaine’s Center for Cooperative Aquaculture Research (CCAR) and Aquaculture Research Institute (ARI) and other partners to teach the basics of saltwater aquaculture such that Chloe, Micah, or our high-school students may receive official, résumé-ready certifications of their skills without needing to enroll in a traditional school. As a college student completes credit hours in a classroom to show they know their stuff, so can a student learning maritime skills outside the classroom, as long as an education authority approves their learning path.

While they also award official certifications, microcredentialing programs are often much shorter than conventional college courses (weeks instead of months) because they are aimed at making skill-certification more broadly attainable. Says CCAR’s Melissa Malmsteadt, “microcredentials are kind of brilliant—you can get a baseline level of interest in a topic to see if it interests you without needing to commit to a four-year college.” Microcredentials differ for youth and adult learners, and microcredential development accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic as educators foresaw future impediments for traditional learning systems. However, professionalization programs for marine aquaculture are especially new because ocean-farming industries are still maturing in Maine and nation-wide (shout-out to the Gulf of Maine Research Institute’s 2020 strategy report on aquaculture workforce development in the state).

Thus are Hurricane Island’s adult and high-school aquaculture microcredentials still pilot programs while Chloe and Micah provide feedback on their skill-development, and as we field-test lesson plans to guide youth students through at least the first of three levels of ocean-farming proficiency. This season, however, we are proud that our youth participants completed Level 2 of UMaine’s youth Aquaculture Microcredential through our workshops; these students are on their way to receiving the first stage of UMaine’s adult Aquaculture Microcredential.

We are thoroughly excited to continue to integrate our marine research with Hurricane Island’s education initiatives. In the meanwhile, Chloe will fix the bilge pump on the skiff, and Micah will keep monitoring the saltwater aquarium he built to develop sugar kelp spores. Fortunately, they are comfortably accustomed to the range of competencies required for marine work.