Last week we marked the end of the Bosun School Summer 2021 program with a graduation ceremony for the students. It had been a wonderful summer for Bosun School on the Lunenburg Waterfront: a lot was learned and a lot of very hard work was put forward by the students over the past three months, and this was all worth celebrating!
The Bosun School gang worked together to cook a delicious gourmet meal for everyone. Yummy pasta with garlic bread, salad and spring rolls were handmade by the students in the Picton Castle’s galley. As we were hosting the ceremony in the Carpentry Shop at the Picton Castle Warehouse (where most of the Bosun School lessons take place), there aren’t any tables set up to have a sit-down meal. So the Bosun School team put their creative skills to the test, and were able to build a long table in the shop for the meal. Making several wooden sawhorses by hand, they placed long, tropical hardwood wood planks on top to create a banquet-style table. Wooden benches and chests from Bali were set along the perimeter to complete the table and chair ensemble. A lovely model dory in progress being created by one of our Bosun School students, Rob, was set in the middle as the table centrepiece.
Apart from the Bosun School grads in attendance, we had some special guests join us for the celebration as well! Two of the directors of the Nova Scotia Seamanship Education Society (who helped support this summer’s Bosun School) came to cheer on the students, as well as Bosun School office staff, Tammy and Dawson Moreland, instructors and assistants from this year’s program, and parents of some of the graduates. After a beautiful meal shared together at the table, celebration cakes were cut to mark the occasion.
To start off the ceremonies, Rory had been selected by his Bosun School peers to give the valedictorian speech. He gave a lovely presentation on the unique experience of participating in Bosun School, the camaraderie and friendships formed over the summer, and how Bosun School will benefit the group moving forward in their future endeavours as mariners.
Next, one of the graduates, Shelly, had made handmade personalized awards for each of the Bosun School students in the program. Hand drawn on paper plates, the awards were given out to students by Violet since Shelly sadly had to leave before the ceremony began. She was able to join the group by video call to watch the presentation!
Captain Daniel Moreland then gave a speech congratulating the students on all the hard work they had put in to Bosun School over the summer. He outlined the wide array of diverse projects that had been worked on over the past few months as a group and detailed the impressive list of skills that had been practiced and learned. Next, Captain Moreland and Maggie presented each student with a certificate and a hand carved Bali fid.
Congratulations to all the Summer 2021 Bosun School graduates! We are looking forward to having several of the students from the summer program join us in the next offering of Bosun School, which starts this week and focuses on Ship Rigging.
