Week 6: March 2-6, 2009

As we entered our sixth week at San Francisco State, we began to realize that we only had three more weeks left until the beginning of our voyage. Both nervous and excited, we began a week filled with many decisions and visitors. On Monday morning we had some time to brainstorm and create a layout for a flag that would represent our group that we would fly during our trip. Although we had many ideas, we could not think of any solid ideas, so we decided to go over new ideas on Tuesday’s Crew Muster.
On Tuesday our first guest of the week, The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) spent the day evaluating Tall Ship’s program by interviewing the teachers and sitting in and asking us questions about why we joined the program during our Crew Muster. During Crew Muster, we finally came to a consensus on the final idea for our flag. Then after that discussion, we took the time to go around the group and tell one another how much they are appreciated.
On Wednesday during Navigation, we were greeted by numerous guests. In the morning, Laurie, who we met at the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, gave us a lesson on Mangroves in the Caribbean and in America. Later on in the day we were greeted by our surprise guest Dr. Oswaldo Garcia, who is a professor of Meteorology at San Francisco State. During his visit, he taught us the basics of weather charts and how to read and understand wave heights and wind speeds. During the end of the day we took time out of Vincent’s class to rehearse and present little performances based on Maya Angelou’s poem Phenomenal Woman.
Thursday was a typical day, with the exception of our guest teacher Blanca, who was a Tall Ship alumni in 2006. Blanca taught us a lesson on video and skills and techniques we can use to make a documentary of our voyage in March. After learning about various shots and cuts, we went around campus to practice what we had learned.
We ended the week with our typical schedule, and got ready to spend the weekend packing and getting ready for our trip.

Julia Brooks