Navigating Life Lessons
Rachel Wheten's Journey on the Open Sea
Rachel Wheten, an NDMV alumni who served at the World Ocean School, believes that the most important thing she could teach doesn’t come from the words she says. It's the unique experience of getting on a boat and pulling up giant sails with all of your classmates, and trying to figure out how to be in a hundred feet of space with twenty-five people for a week. This is an experience students won’t gain in a “normal” classroom setting, she explained, but one that offers a world of learning opportunities.
Rachel with the boat mascot.
Rachel didn’t grow up around tall ships, but she remembers her first experience seeing one. “I remember walking up to the dock and being like, ‘Oh my gosh, I didn't know ships like that existed nowadays. Let alone functioned,’ she said. Rachel loves the opportunity to give back that experience of being on a tall ship for the first time to the students she gets to welcome.
She sought an opportunity to take long sails across the ocean, experience the East Coast, and work with students. NDMV provided that unique service opportunity through our partnership with the World Ocean School. She was able to visit Boston and sail to St. Croix. “You get to sail the whole eastern seaboard and do some real ocean sailing,” she said excitedly.
Living on a boat for a year is not an easy experience, but the lessons Rachel has learned will last her beyond her service year. She said, “Boats have taught me a lot about work and taking care of the place that's taking care of you.” Rachel sees the ship as a living thing. “When we're in the water and sailing, she's all that's between me and the ocean and the abyss.” Rachel encourages students to take care of the boat and do their chores to support everyone on the boat. That is one of many life lessons students learn in Rachel’s “classroom.”
One of Rachel’s most memorable moments with students was when they were taking the kids aloft using a harness. “It’s 45 feet up on the cork to reach the mast. It’s usually a scary thing. This girl got on a harness and said, ‘I don't want to do it.’ We were like, ‘It's okay. You can do it. I believe in you,” she explained.
Rachel and other NDMV crew members encouraged the student to take one step at a time, telling her they believed she could keep going at each step. She made it up the mast, and all her classmates started cheering her on. “She made it and had the biggest smile when she came back down,” Rachel reminisced. She demonstrated that any moment, anywhere, can be a teachable moment. We hope she takes that mindset into the next teaching opportunity beyond her service year with NDMV.
