Since it was founded in 2012, the Kidz at Sea programme has reaped success in grooming and preparing youngsters to take up work in the country’s very vibrant marine industry.
More than 50 kids (and counting) have benefited from the programme, which was just last year fully integrated into the Carpentry programme at Milton Peters College (MPC): more on this later.
The programme began when it became obvious that in order to get the local community involved in the marine industry, the marine industry must be accessible to them.
“The youth is the future so there’s no better place to start. The goal is to teach youngsters about the opportunities in the industry and life skills through sailing and boat building. These skills and experiences go beyond learning to sail or learning carpentry, the youngsters will learn teamwork, communication, leadership, problem solving and discipline,” board members Garth Steyn and Lorraine Talmi said.
“By building a boat they not only learn technical skills, but also that there are many different areas in the marine industry, and not all involve working out on the water, such as sail making, carpentry, electrical, welding, marine construction and others. It gives the participants a better understanding of the depth of job opportunities within the marine industry not just one specific area.”
The Kidz at Sea programme consists of two primary areas: Boat building or the “Build Your Future Programme” and sailing.
The programme began with building small boats “Skerries.” The first one was built by students of the Secondary Vocational Education SBO Maritime Programme as a precursor to test the idea of the programme. It was then broadened and introduced to other local high schools: MPC, Caribbean International Academy (CIA), Sundial School, St. Maarten Vocational Training School (SMVTS) and St. Dominic High.
At MPC, boat building became part of the carpentry curriculum, when it was fully integrated last year into the curriculum of MPC’s Carpentry division. Currently, nine students in this stream are building a racing sailboat, a DIDI 26 - designed by Dudley Dix. The students are working hard to have her ready to be sailed in the 36th St. Maarten Heineken Regatta. The students are working on the 26ft boat 12 hours a week. “This is instead of joining the job market through job training. They will be working hard to complete the vessel over the five-week period to have it ready for St. Maarten Heineken Regatta,” the board members said.
“This is actually real life work and the best form of training. The boat is being built from scratch, materials are brought in, but they have to sand the wood, build the frame, epoxy, rigging, sail making, fibre glass, etc. This expands the spectrum of qualities from carpentry to the entire marine industry and the students’ view of the job market of the marine industry.”
Kids At Sea also offers sail training to youth participants. “We start diligently race training in January with the big exam competing in St. Maarten Heineken Regatta. This grew from one team of eight students to participation of over 35 local youngsters in this international event last year.”
More than 20 students are currently enrolled in the Kidz at Sea programme with the new season starting soon. “There is room for a few more if there are any interested students reading this.”
The Kidz at Sea Foundation is mainly run by volunteers. It is largely funded through a project called “Kansen voor Jongeren,” which is a Dutch Caribbean wide programme initiated by Samenwerkenden Fondsen. “We also have many other partners both locally and abroad, who facilitate either by volunteering their time or expertise or assist with needed specialty items.”
These partners are Aqua Mania Adventures, The Wired Sailor, St. Maarten Shipyard, St. Maarten Sailing School, St. Maarten Sails, FKG Rigging, Budget Marine, National Marine, Island Water World, IGY Marinas, Harbour Group of Companies, St. Maarten Marine Trades Association (SMMTA) and most recently Essilor USA has come on board as a sponsor and supported the programme.
Members of the board are Steyn, Talmi and Iain Mobbs. Other persons, who play a major role, include Wim de Visser, Rien Korteknie, Rens Heestermans and Michele Korteweg.
Asked whether the programme is meeting its objectives, the board members said, “As the project is a long-term programme, it is hard to see obvious effects already, as the main objective is to get youngsters interested in the marine industry. However, there are successes, and because of the support of the private sector, the programme can expand and offer more youngsters opportunities. Fortunately, looking at other goals, like developing the students to be ready to be hired for a job in the marine industry, there are great improvements. There is a data/evaluation programme that is used to evaluate the students and track their process. This is sent to Samenwerkende Fondsen who evaluates the results of the Kidz at Sea programme. So far, we are right on track. Another objective that was met was to have our programme be part of the curriculum at one of the largest high schools in St. Maarten - MPC. Rather than building desks and chairs, they are building actual boats. Without the support and collaboration with MPC, largely by the involvement of the director and the carpentry teachers, our programme would not be nearly as successful as it is.”
The board members said there are several students, who have gone from school straight into working in the industry. “Others have left for college, but are in contact with the project leaders regularly to find out if help is needed during the summer, as summer jobs or if they can sail in regattas. Some of these youngsters have expressed an interest to go and become naval architects or marine carpenters. So as far as success, a big thumbs-up as these kids would never have been exposed to this industry.”
The programme’s biggest accomplishments to date has been building the skerries, sailing in St. Maarten Heineken Regatta and getting good results, receiving visits from dignitaries: the King of the Netherlands, His Royal Highness Willem Alexander; Governor of St. Maarten, Eugene Holiday; and Dutch Minister Ronald Plasterk; implementing boat building into a school curriculum and attracting an international corporate sponsor that sees the value of the Kidz at Sea Programme.
As for the future plans of the programme, once the Dudley 26 boat is finished and has sailed in a couple of events by the youths who built it, Kidz at Sea is planning to sell it in order to bring funds back into the project. “This is one way to help the programme become sustainable, which is important in order for the programme to continue. There is a great interest from the community in buying the boat, so it should lead to some promising objectives for the future. We would also like to expand the number of schools involved and see whether we can include sailing and boatbuilding into the curriculum of multiple schools.”
Kidz at Sea sees the marine industry as a pivotal organ in the country. “The Marine industry is the highest revenue generating arm of the economy for the least investment in infrastructure. Jobs created by this sector tend to be higher skilled and higher paid. And conversely to popular thinking, it does have a high number of Antillean nationals in senior and skilled positions within it. It is also important to have a balance in your economy. As St. Maarten's main pillar is tourism, we are lucky to have diversification within this pillar into three areas: stayover, cruise and yachting.”
The board members believe that the industry can be strengthened if it is recognised as an important sector. “And then it can be supported by Government taking an active role in understanding it. Establishing environmental regulations that support and protect our environment, protecting it for all of us for the future and by making structured exceptions for the industry when it is necessary, such as within the job and education sector, marketing the sector would also be appreciated in a structured sustained manner and taking away unnecessary obstacles.”
“St. Maarten is a natural hub, by proximity to our desirable neighbours; because of the strength of our airport; our wide availability of goods and services and our protected lagoon. But other islands are improving their offerings and are aggressively trying to attract this clientele. Government officials of our neighbours are making bigger and bolder promises to the visitor and to the businesses in this sector to woo them to their shores. In some respects, what strengthens the region also strengthens St. Maarten; this is certainly true for the larger boats, but the distances are greater for the smaller boats and let’s say once Grenada wins a visitor, it may be a long, long while before they return to St. Maarten.”
Asked what St. Maarten can do to keep its competitive edge, the board members said, “Nothing is being done to facilitate this sector. Everything is private enterprise and it is not cohesive. An example could be a special category of work permits could be created for this sector, specifically for a highly skilled singular position given to the company not to the potential employee, so that the company can find and vet the person for the seasonal position that they have. In a select few instances, businesses really struggle to find one or two extremely qualified people. These jobs are hard to fill anywhere in the world not just here, as there just aren’t enough people available with the skills. They simply do not exist here and we do not have the capabilities of putting a training programme for one person to the level required. But we lose business and economic turnover and waste resources because it is difficult to get work permits, for example.
Another example is that a marketing plan for the Marine sector could be included in the destination marketing plans of St. Maarten Tourist Bureau – a specific allocation of the budget on an annual basis.”
In the meantime, youngsters interested in the programme can contact Kidz at Sea directly at 580-5806 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. “We look for students who understand the importance of broadening their skills set and expand their view of the job market but also for participants who want to experience another side of island living and to reduce stress. No experience is needed, just a passion to get involved and eagerness to learn something new.”
