Merchant Marine Memorial

If you happen to take a walk around our campus you will notice that there are various of different memorials we have representing different people, or even graduates. One of my favorite ones is the one you see first as you enter the Academy and it is also next to our Harrington Academic Building. It is the memorial for the Merchant Marine Officers who have been killed in the line of duty. Coming from a school whose first majors for many years were only Marine Transportation and Marine Engineering we have a particular place in our hearts for those who obtained their license and were killed out to sea. As you walk to the memorial there is a path to the front statue of the Unknown Seaman. The Unknown Seaman has on a pea coat and has one hand in his pocket, and it says underneath " This monument is dedicated to the officers and men who sailed the ships of the US Merchant Marine during World War II. Especially to the 6700 unsung heroes who lost their lives in that conflict. And to the sons and daughters who followed in their footsteps and continue to go down to sea in ships. We remember them. We miss them. We shall never forget them." I think it is only appropriate that it placed facing the canal (the most beautiful spot on Buzzards Bay if you ask me) and next to our academic building where these future officers learn and are trained to become 3rd mates.

Surprising Summer!

I applied to as many companies as I possibly could in February this year for a co-op, but I wanted to focus on finding a company with a data-programming side because that is what I thought I wanted to do. APM Terminals was not even a company that I had in mind, but they called me one day, after class, and wanted to have a phone interview just a few hours later. Of course I said yes and I guess the rest is history. This summer I did a co-op in Port Elizabeth, New Jersey with APM Terminals. When getting my contract with the company and seeing my title as Assistant Operations ManagerI had absolutely no idea what to expect, but I knew that it would be fun from cadets who had done a co-op there before. Quite frankly I was nervous and I wasn't even sure working in a port was something that I would want to do after graduation, but I decided to give it a shot; not only was the pay great, the terminal was an hour away from where I live in NJ, but it was a great experience into the maritime industry! The first day was overwhelming I thought. Myself and 3 other MMA cadets started right after classes were done in June and were thrown into it. Learning the machines, the protocol, the lay of the land, and the logic behind decisions made.

At MMA, everyone wears a uniform, we refer to everyone as Mr or Ms and we are polite and respectful as possible at all times, so when arriving on the first day I thought that we were going to be doing the same thing. The first day we started we were told to show up in khakis (except on Fridays when everyone wears jeans), a polo or collared shirt, steel toed boots and a bright yellow safety vest. We were told to call everyone (even the Directors) by their first name and to remember to ask questions. We immediately fit in with the rest of the group of staff and the managers took a particular liking to the MMA cadets because of our knowledge and work ethic. Myself and Keith Sanchez worked together the most in the yard (each intern was split up into different departments) and we would often come in at 0600 when the other AOM (Asst. Ops. Managers) would come in and stay until the yard closed at 1800. We were at the scene when there were accidents, when there were problems, we even did tracking the productivity of our Refrigerated Contatiners. Some weeks we did that 5 times a week Monday-Friday. It was a long week and it was tiring, but the guys ( I was the only girl for most of my internship) that we worked with made work go by quickly. It is the end of September and I still get emails, and texts from my co-workers asking when I'll be back next, or checking in on how school is going. They told me in my exit interview that if I had been applying for a job- they'd hire me!

For me, I'm glad I changed my mind and decided to give ports and terminals a try, because I know that's where I want to be. I love the opportunities that this Academy has given me. I thought I was going to come into MMA and do Marine Transportation, (not even given International Maritime Business a look!) and now I am on track to do something that I love and found my niche in. I can't wait to go back in the winter!

Board of Trustee Meeting

I am so sorry for my absense for the past week or so. Life always seems busiest in the beginning and end of the semester, or maybe it's just because I wasn't used to it yet. With tutoring, classes, the play, and now trustee requirements life has been hectic. 2 weeks ago the Board of Trustees met for their monthly meeting. It was especially exciting for me, because it was the first time that I was able to vote and participate as an active member. Being Student Trustee has been so much more awarding than I really ever thought possible. Besides being exposed to so many behind the scenes activities that go on at MMA, I have advanced my public speaking skills as well as my people-skills. I do not think either of those ever stop advancing. At the meeting, the Admiral's 5 year plan was approved and discussion on the future of the Academy was reviewed. Every Trustee on the board comes from a different background. Our Chairman is a Marine and Purple Heart Recipient as well as an agent in the Secret Service. Our Vice Chairman is a lawyer and a graduate of Mass. Maritime Academy. We have former college deans, mayors, and professionals in the maritime industry. It is that structure that makes each of our perspectives so different, but so fascinating. We also discussed the expansion onto 6th company and with our campus expanding right before our eyes, the Admiral stressed a need on expansion to let more cadets into our beautiful school. We also got reports from each Vice President (Admissions, Finance, Operations, Academics etc) and was quite pleased with each report.

All in all the meeting was interesting and I can't wait for the next Committee Day in November!

Successful Weekend

This weekend I made my second trip to the New Bedford Working Waterfront Festival. To no surprise at all it was an excellent weekend. I was skeptical about the weather, on our way there, the it wasn't exactly delightful driving. We arrived early in the morning to set up the M/V Ranger. The liferaft was inflated and put on display as well a number of pamphlets put out for our visitors to learn more about MMA. My job was relatively easy. I started the generator in the engine room and got the vessel's electronics up and running. I instructed the freshmen that I had brought along on how to give tours and what to say. From there I supervised and made sure everything went smoothly.

Looking back to last year, I remember standing in the wheelhouse not having a clue about anything I was looking at. Now there isn't a piece of equipment that I haven't learned about. It's nice to see much I have learned and how far I have come in the last year.

After a long day of tours and meeting new faces we got a chance to hang out with a bunch of the tug boaters. There was a cookout for all of the tug boaters, and since we happened to know a few we were invited to the festivities. All in a all it was an extremely successful weekend and I can't wait for next year.

Long Week

I have to admit that this week seemed rather long. I started this busy week with Admirals Inspection. Of course, my roommate Adam and I passed without a problem. Mondays always seem long because I have class 8-4 with only a half hour break. During my tugs and Towing class on Monday we got a chance to use the tug simulator. The simulator is a very real experience. The sounds are real, the controls are real, and the graphics are as real as it gets. We happened to be operating in Naples, Italy. It looked just like Naples, the chart matched the graphics perfectly. On Tuesday I attended to my civic duty by taking part in jury duty. Fortunately I was not called to sit on a trial, as I would have surely had to miss class on Wednesday. The rest of the week was filled with classes and crew practice. In addition to classes and practice I had my usual squad leader duties. I made sure cleaning stations was mustered and done, as well as monitoring study hours. In the end it adds up to be a pretty long week.

This weekend I'll be attending the Working Waterfront Festival over in New Bedford, MA. I'll be representing MMA along with a a few other cadets aboard the M/V Ranger. We'll be giving tours, answering questions, and talking about our lives at MMA. Last year I attended the festival. It turned out to be one of the best weekends that I had last year. I am very excited to be part of it this year.

Also coming up soon is the the years first Open House and Crew Regatta.

Looking Back

School is now back in full swing. I'd like to take the chance to look back and reflect on my summer. This summer I had the chance to travel to Galveston, Texas to work for G&H Towing Company. G&H is strictly in the ship assist business. All of their tugs assist the ships that are going in and out of Houston, Galveston, Texas City, Freeport, and Corpus Christi. I left on June 20th and got home on August 24th. It was a very worth while experience. As a cadet I had a lot of responsibilities. I did daily maintenance as directed by the master, handled morring lines while docking and un-docking, and did the towing lines for tying up to ships. I also got a lot of time behind the wheel of some of the tugs. My schedule was a little different than the average 9-5 job. I would work five days on the tug with two days off. On the tug I would maintenance/ship work during the day. While the rest of the world sleeps at night, ships are constantly moving. It wasn't uncommon for the tug boat to have 2-5 ship jobs during the night. On a couple occasions we would run for 24 hours straight. This meant that my sleep schedule was a little interrupted. G&H operates a number of different types of tugs. I was on the conventional twin screw boats, and a couple of the Z-Tech/Z-Drive boats. A Z-Tech/Z-Drive is a

boat that two propellers, but instead of having rudders as well, the propellers move independently in any direction. The Z-Tech/Z-Drive was a whole new beast that I had to wrap my head around. With a little bit of practice and brain power I started to get the hang of driving them. Occasionally I was allowed to drive while working with a ship. Driving up and down the channel or offshore isn't too hard to do. The real challenge is maneuvering while tied up to a 800 ft. tanker fully loaded. Every order and direction is passed over the radio from the pilot on the ship. It's sometimes hard to think of which way to turn or how much power to give to which propeller, because there can be so many factors that play into how the vessel will react.

All in all it was an excellent summer. I learned a lot more than I expected to. It was a trip well worth it. After spending the summer on tugs, it's safe to say that I would like to ship out deep sea when I get out of school. On a side note, the base temperature was about 101 degrees. With the heat index it wasn't uncommon to see temperatures of 110-115.

first blog after recover from Orientation

9/07/2011, Today is the first day of the school, never thought I would say this, but I really missed school. I wish school would’ve started four weeks ago, mainly because of Orientation.

Orientation was finished on Saturday, September 3^rd.  Almost one week later, most of the squad leaders and company cadet officers are still trying to recover from sleep deprivation.  The amount of energy drinks from energy drinks that we consumed during the two week period and frustration with random silly questions from freshmen, such as: “Are these cadet candidates still getting Uncrustables every night?” and “Can this cadet candidate take showers during the day?”  However, overall the Orientation went very well.  It was a fun and exciting two weeks, even though we were exhausted.

Right after the Orientation graduation, I went back to my room and sat in my chair, after that I don’t remember that much until I woke up at midnight because I was hungry. I do not remember much for that weekend, because I was catching up on sleep. The next thing I know, school started.  I had to deal with the same issues since freshmen year, spent most of my money on books and drinking coffee to stay awake in the class. Now I just wish that the weekend comes earlier and catch up on sleep again.

The Passion of Dracula

Yesterday afternoon, Mass. Maritime had their first auditions for The Passion of Dracula. Since I have been active in theater since freshman year, this year I am the new Company Manager. We had a great turn out of crew and light support and incoming actors in this upcoming production. When choosing a college, I knew that I wanted a regimented college and it really came down to 3 regimented academies. My parents and I sat down and looked at what each college offered to pick which one was the best one for me. I was very active in plays and musicals in high school and even middle school and I knew that outlet was important to me. The other school did not have an acting program and the other academy told me that if I was interested I 'would have to start my own.' It was a done deal for me as to where I felt most comfortable, and every year around this time, I am reminded on why I picked MMA. I remember how much pride I have when I wake up to salute the flag at morning formation, or how much fun I have acting and at practice. For some people it is sports that can get them to unwind, for some it's playing an instrument, for others like me, it's being able to show my creative side on stage. I am thankful that this year we are doing a famous performance and hopefully will have just as large of an audience like the last 2 years.

If you are a high school student looking at colleges, the only piece of advice I would give you is to compare what colleges can offer outside of the classroom. Mass Maritime has unbelievable opportunities that stretch far beyond the classroom and anyone here will tell you that. I know I wouldn't have the same opportunities had I gone to any of the other schools. Not only do we stick out because of our uniform, because of our huge ship on campus, but we stick out because of our extra curriculars beyond the 0800-1600 class hours. Get involved, ask questions and compare!

Monday Maintenance!

Along with the semester starting classes, maintenance also started this past Monday and had maintenance from 0800-1100. I almost forgot about it until a shipmate of mine reminded me that we had to go get on our boiler suits after morning formation and head over to the ship with our PPE (Personal Protective Equipment such as gloves, hearing protection, goggles, flashlight etc) and our TWIC (Transportation Workers Identification Credential). Maintenance is a graduation requirement and is for 3 hours, once a week, for 4 weeks= 12 hours a semester. It is a long time, but if you have a good group of cadets with you, it goes by quickly.

So today on maintenance my group of 15 or so cadets went to the top of the 2 hold hatch and we moved the monomoys off of the ship. They used the monomoys on mini cruise during orientation to race. Thankfully, we had some marine transportation cadets at maintenance at the same time, because many of the business and MSEP cadets were confused on how to go about moving it onto the pier. I learned alot about the monomoys and then after that we had to take each of the inflatable life rafts and put straps on them to transfer them onto the pier (to be inspected) using a crane. Regardless of major at MMA, cadets have an obligation to give back whether it is needle gunning, painting, or doing what I was doing which was moving equipment. The point is to take care of the ship, and to also learn more about it.

Back to School

After a long summer, I am glad to be back at MMA for another semester. In the first week of school I was very busy. I had the opportunity to attend the Admirals Gala. I was invited to the Gala because I was featured in the scholarship book that was being handed out to the guests. My self along with two other cadets were featured. The Gala was an excellent time. Not only was it a great chance to meet new people and network, it was a fun atmosphere. Our new ABS Information Commons was buzzing with people, live music, and excellent food. Among one of the very exciting things to see was the new ship simulator. The new simulator is beyond anything I could have ever hoped for when I heard it was being built. When standing inside the bridge of this simulator, I felt like I was on the bridge of a ship, every part of my body felt like it was at sea. The new simulator accomplishes exactly what it is meant to do. It is meant to fully immerse students into a environment where they can learn, make mistakes, and try things that we cannot do in the real world. It allows us to make a mistake without suffering the consequences, so that we will not make the same mistakes in the real world.

In addition to the Gala I have been very busy. Classes are fully underway as we enter our second week of school. This year I have a good size course load. I am taking Tugs and Towing 1, Navigation 2, GMDSS 2, Meteorology, and Dangerous Liquid Cargo. There is no doubt that it will be a tough academic semester, but with a little hard work, I'll be just fine.

Just yesterday the crew team traveled down to the pond to set up the boathouse for what I am sure will be an excellent season. In addition to starting crew yesterday, I was introduced the new freshmen in my company. As a Squad Leader in 5th Company it is my duty to lead the freshman along with the other 5th Company Squad Leaders.

My next blog will be about my summer in Texas with G&H Towing.

Upcoming events:
-New Bedford Waterfront Festival

-Open House

-First Crew Regatta

Until Next Time,

2/c Joshua Lamm

joshua.lamm@maritime.edu

Never Forgotten Heroes

I had the honor of participating in this year's Travis Fuller Invitational Cross Country Race at MMA on Saturday, September 10th, 2011. Not only was it an honor to sing the National Anthem and God Bless America but to me, meeting his 2 sisters was quite humbling. Travis Fuller was a MMA grad who was killed on January 26, 2005 when the CH-53E helicopter crashed near Ar Rutbah, Iraq. He was assigned to the 1^st Battalion, 3^rd Marine Regiment, 3 Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, and Marine Corps Base Hawaii. He was a Massachusetts Maritime Graduate who joined the Marine Corps upon completion at the Academy and every year since MMA host’s an invitational cross country race in his honor. Travis Fuller was also a cross country runner who touched the lives of many. I never had the honor of meeting Travis, but his ultimate sacrifice never goes forgotten. I found a website honoring our fallen heroes, and the page dedicated to him. At the award ceremony his sisters stood up and told a story about how when Travis had heard that the towers had fell, he rushed to NYC to help, and when he wasn’t able to go into New York, he came to MMA and sat along the canal with his shipmates in awe. They thanked the Academy for being the place that he ran to that day, but I think more than anything, Saturday MMA thanked 1st Lt. Travis Fuller for his bravery and unselfish acts that fateful day in January. It was a touching ceremony on Saturday that truly set a humbling mood for the weekend. Today is September 11^th, and no matter where you were that day, it is forever embedded in our hearts and our minds. I hope that you had a reflective and were able to share it with loved ones.

Admiral's Gala

Last night, I attended the Admiral's Gala as MMA's Student Trustee. This year, our Admiral's Gala took place in our new ABS Information Commons and was a complete hit! I had the honor of meeting the CEO from Seabulk International, Gerhard Kurz. Apart from being friendly and a joy to talk to, he had so many words of wisdom to share with the cadets there. There was great food, great conversation and of course a great speech given. This was my first event of this type, and I hope to be able to go to many more. I met many alumni's who were very impressed (and some even speechless) with the ABS Information Commons.

A few of my shipmates and I also decided to go see the newly constructed Ship Simulator. I wish I could explain how breathtakingly amazing this room is to be in, but I hope that you get to see it for yourself. I spent an hour in the simulator, and I was so convinced that the floor was moving on hydraulics! The details of the 360˚ screen that surrounded the “bridge” was amazing. We had a sound power telephone that was connected to the control room where a certified faculty member put obstacles in our way, as well as even changed the weather! I am a business major, and I went into this simulator with two other IMBU cadets and an Emergency Management cadet and all four of us came out of the simulator saying that we should have gone Marine Transportation.

The picture above isn't as clear as I had hoped, because the room is dark but you do see a bit of what the room is like. The man on the left is Mark Stevenson a 2000 MMA graduate (Marine Engineer nonetheless), the man in the middle is Arthur Patsios an Emergency Management major (Class of 2013) and on the right is Michael Kastrinelis an International Maritime Business major (Class of 2013) who is now seriously considering shipping out. The Admiral's Gala last night brought together all age groups of maritime professionals and, to me, it was especially touching to see the alumni and current cadets interacting. The alumni's have so much world experience, but still are able to connect with our cadets. The Gala was such a success!

- - J--Jordan Megee