As another summer swiftly becomes little more than a memory, an indelibly unique adventure in which five Beaumont girls participated will leave them with more than enough to reminisce and boast about to others.

From August 14th to August 19th, Emmy Boes ’14, Gillian Davies’13, Anna Grushetsky ’13, Jane Kim ’13, and Frankie Prijatel ’13, sailed on the Flag Ship Niagara with the Project YESS (Youths Empowered to Succeed through Sailing) Program in the company of 13 other selected students.  

The Flagship Niagara, also known as the US Brig Niagara, is a stunning replica of a warship that was under the command of Oliver Hazard Perry during the War of Lake Erie in 1812. Now, it used for educational and adventure purposes. Twenty-one years after its inaugural sail, the Flagship Niagara did not fail to awe us as we beheld the truly magnificent treasure standing in the vast depths of Lake Michigan. We were more than ready witness the wonders of the sailing after taking a 6½ hour bus drive from Cleveland to Chicago, Illinois.

Not having an inkling of what to expect, we stepped onto the ship dragging our large duffle bags along. Walking down a steep flight of stairs, we saw where we would be sleeping for the journey. This  became the first highlight of our week: how to set up our hammocks. It looked a bit challenging, but the YESS students mastered the technique within a few tries. As we were working with the ropes and hooks, a delightful surprise came into view: Mrs. Santo! She had come to visit and greet us! Although the encounter was brief, it gave the Beaumont girls a great start to what would soon become an amazing week. 

Early the next morning, the first full day was ahead of us. For me, this was the most memorable. Time was very limited, and we had only a week to learn the basics of the ship versus the normal three week time span. Our training included vigorous amounts of rigging, coiling, yelling, pulling, and knotting all while incorporating teamwork and pure joy of learning. One of my favorite tasks was having the opportunity to climb a rope ladder, while being holstered in, all the way up to the main topsail and having the best possible view of the waters of the Lake Michigan. We also gathered in a circle to have a session on learning the basic concepts and parts of the ship. 

At the beginning of the week, the YESS members were divided into groups: Alpha, Charlie, and Bravo watch. Each group would take turns taking ‘watch’ and alternate every few hours. This would be our main task for the remainder of the week. Some of the tasks that each watch would have to do included steering the ship, being on look-out for any object coming the in the direction of the ship, and checking that he ship was in orderly shape. My personal favorite was look-out. I was able to view a thunder and lightning storm from a distance, a humongous  dullish red orb which turned out to be the moon, and a breathtaking sight of the surise/sunset. 

As a relaxer from the greatly rewarding but laborious work, the captain allowed everybody the privilege to sit on the bosun’s chair and be dropped into Lake Michigan, of course after our harnesses were tightly secured onto the chair. The water was much warmer than it appeared, and as the boat was propelled forward, we were swiftly pulled through the water for a minute or so.

After a hard day’s work under the scorching sun, it is impossible to describe how refreshing and relaxing it was. What made it even more fun was that we could use out arms to control which direction we wanted to steer in, allowing us to move back and forth, left to right as we enjoyed the spectacular experience.

During my last duty on look-out on the YESS program’s last day on the U.S. Brig Niagara, the most beautiful, sparkling stars shined through the darkness of the night. It was there, for the first time, I saw the Big Dipper. It seemed to have been magnified x100. It was absolutely stunning, and I don’t believe that anybody could have gotten such a great view on shore. 

After arriving at Wisconsin, the YESS students divided into groups, wearing their brand new U.S. Brig Niagara t-shirts, to enjoy our time there before evening dinner at the Yacht Club. At Wisconsin, we bought ice cream, went to the beach, played in the park while singing to tunes, and went shopping to buy souvenirs of our time there. One item in particular that was popular among us were yellow rubber duckies of different creatures, such as a rubber ducky horse, Charlie Chaplin, captain, and joker.

Dinner at the Yacht Club was absolutely delicious, and soon afterwards we danced to a performing band. Some students were very creative and invented new types of dances such as ‘coiling’, where we would bend down and pretend to coil actual ropes like we would do daily on the ship.  It had been an amazing day and everybody went to sleep exhausted, and slept through the last and final night on the Niagara. 

Early the next morning, the YESS students roused from their sleep and bustled to pack their belongings. The atmosphere was quiet and sullen in great contrast to the usual energetic and brisk attitudes during the week. Good-byes were exchanged, a final group picture of the YESS students and the crew was taken, and we departed our separate ways: the Niagara crew back to Erie and the students returning home. Although our stay on the Niagara was over, the experience will forever remain in our hearts. 

The emotion was well stated by Gillian Davies ’13, “It was a life changing experience”. It truly was. The program had went far beyond our initial expectations, and we returned with so much more knowledge, courage, strength, and friendship than we had left with.

As one wise man once said, “Don’t cry because it ended, but smile because it happened.” Our unforgettably phenomenal experience has kept each and every one of us smiling since.