Scuba diving. Estuary restoration. Search and rescue.
While none are likely integral at most American high schools, they’re essential to students at Urban Assembly New York Harbor School on Governors Island, just south of Manhattan.
Located on two campuses, one for classroom-centered learning and the other for water-based research, the 20-year-old Harbor School requires its 480 charges to choose among eight maritime-themed career and technical education pathways by the end of freshman year.
Real-world opportunity allows students — sometimes clad in life vests, other times in protective goggles and welders’ masks — a chance to earn industry certifications in marine science or technology before graduation, bona fides that help them enter the workforce or pursue their education.
Beatrix Alevras, 17 and a senior, was drawn to the Harbor School because of its focus on college and career readiness.
“I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do and this gave me a good direction,” said Alevras, who hails from lower Manhattan and plans to study environmental science and aquaculture — the breeding, raising and harvesting of fish, shellfish and aquatic plants — at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island this fall.
Like many of the students in her program, Alevras’s resume is impressive: She’s already improved the local oyster habitat, created her own water filtration system and helped raise 2-ounce junior tilapia until they reached market size.
She’s unsure about her future profession, but is considering working on a research vessel or advocating for environmental policies, among other possibilities.
The Harbor School receives roughly 1,000 applications each year for just 140 9th-grade slots, said Jeffrey Chetirko, principal since 2015. They are chosen by a lottery system but the school is also part of a diversity plan, with 70 percent of seats reserved for students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch.
Soon, even more students will…
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