By Maya Pan, PPSC Instructor
In this photo, I am with some of my friends at Piers Park Sailing Center after work, trying to fit too many people into a 2-person boat (our record is 9).
This picture represents my experience as an instructor at Piers Park because each summer I meet new and different people. Some friends are old, and some friends are new, and each year at Piers Park is different. I get to work with a range of people, not just from Piers Park.
Last year, I had the privilege of working with students from the Donald McKay and James Otis elementary schools, giving them a chance to experience sailing. This year, I worked on Long Island with Camp Harbor View, a partner of Pier Park. At Camp Harbor View, students can choose from many activities, which includes learning to sail. As an instructor, I try to teach students the value of friendship. It’s not always easy making friends, but I hope that I can make Piers Park a place where sailing students can bond with each other during sailing time and outside.
I’ve met some of my best friends here. And good friendships come with teamwork, especially with sailing. Sailing requires quick decisions and cooperation, which can only happen with an understanding of each other. After all, it’s not easy sailing a small boat with 9 people on it. In order to make that happen, everyone had to cooperate and communicate, ensuring everyone’s safety.
I hope that students can take these lessons of friendship and working together outside of sailing and use them for the rest of their lives. A positive impact that I see in students is that their understanding of abstract concepts and problem-solving abilities improves. It’s hard to imagine the physics behind the wind’s relation to a sail. It’s like magic that a boat can move forward with wind blowing against it!
Once I see students start to understand these initially difficult concepts, the rate of learning new concepts seems to increase for students. I know that I felt like I was in a cloud of confusion when I first started sailing, but after a while everything made perfect sense. I also struggled with problem-solving in the beginning. If something didn’t go exactly as I planned, I would panic and ask someone else to take over the situation.
Piers Park has taught me to get over that fear and calmly think through tough situations. There are so many things I love about Piers Park Sailing Center. I would have to say that my favorite thing is that we are a nonprofit sailing center. Sailing is thought of as a conventionally upper-class activity, but Piers Park makes sailing accessible to every child. So instead of paying a lot of money for sailing lessons, Piers Park teaches students to sail for $25 and then pays students who go on to become Future Leaders (instructors-in-training) and instructors.
My second favorite thing about Piers Park is just that. Almost all of our instructors learned to sail through the sailing program and kept coming back because they had such a good experience sailing. Most of us have known each other for at least half our lives. We never want to leave!
Once you start at Piers Park, you’re hooked. I currently attend Boston University as an undergraduate. I’m pursuing a degree in Biology, which will hopefully lead to a career in physical therapy, fingers crossed. Just as I love helping Piers Park students understand sailing, I would love to help people understand how their own bodies work. One of my goals during my time at BU is to study abroad in Ecuador as a step closer to becoming fluent in Spanish so I can communicate more effectively in my community. I hope to work at Piers Park as long as I can before most likely getting a less fun job on the road to physical therapy. But Piers Park has had such an important impact on my life that I know it will always be with me.
