Student Life

Cut to the Chase

Woodsmen Club hones competitive skills, helps community.

Accidentally brush your finger against one of the Woodsmen Club’s cross-cut saw’s teeth and you may learn the definition of “scary sharp.”

The largest club on campus, with some 50 members, uses the saw and other traditional forestry tools in competitive intercollegiate co-ed lumberjack events held across New England. Events include sawing, chopping, axe throwing, log rolling, pulp tossing, fire starting and more.
38 seconds… that’s how long it takes Seth Hathaway, president of the club and power engineering technology major, to chop through an 18-inch log with an ax.

MMA’s largest club teaches forestry skills competition.

Members of the club can also make quick work of timber-related efforts that serve the community.

Every year the club takes initiative to put up a Christmas tree on Leavitt lawn for the holidays. This year’s tree was provided by the Great Pond Mountain Conservation Trust in recognition of service from the Woodsmen Club. “The club put in close to 36 hours cutting trees in the Wildlands in accordance with the trust’s forestry plan and re-purposed the tops of many into suitable Christmas trees that were donated to a charity to help local families,” says the club’s faculty advisor, Zanny Stwertka, instructor of physics and engineering.

“The physical nature of the competition, the skills required, and the fact that it’s a unique endeavor are some of the reasons the club is in line with the type of person who comes to MMA,” he says.

“It’s a great escape from school work,” adds Hathaway. “You get to be out in the middle of beautiful places working in the woods with a great group of people, learning how to master the tools, and just chop on some wood.
“It’s very satisfying.”█

Photo: Zanny Stwertka

Special Events

Choose Your Heading

Women on the Water conference connects cadets with professionals.

MMA hosted the 10th Annual Women on the Water Conference in partnership with the Maritime Administration (MARAD) on November 1-3.

The three-day event provided attendees the opportunity to meet with and learn from industry leaders, maritime professionals, and fellow students and academy representatives.

“The conference was a great networking opportunity for mariners at all stages of their careers,” says event director Elizabeth True, Vice President of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management. This year’s theme was “Choose Your Heading” to encourage female maritime students to consider the many options available to them for careers in the industry.

Some 190 participants from across the country, Canada and Norway attended the conference. The 95 student participants came from the seven U.S. maritime academies and six Canadian institutions.

This year’s program workshops highlighted the many options open for female maritime students to consider.

“This conference adds so much value in that it bridges the gap between women in the industry with the female cadets of the maritime academies,” says panelist and USMMA alumna Ally Cedeno, founder of WomenOffshore.org and Senior Dynamic Positioning Operator with Transocean Company. “It’s also an opportunity to meet [professional] women who are making waves and for those women to network, as well.”

Workshops included: 1) Bringing Your Career Ashore; 2) Knowing Your Options – Union/Non-Union, Government; 3) Achieving Work/Life Balance with a Maritime Career; 4) Offshore Oil and Gas Careers; 5) Panel discussions on career options for maritime engineers, being a harbor pilot, and options for limited license captains; and 6) Change versus Transition – Ship to Shore to Ship. Thirteen panelists were MMA alumni at various stages of their careers. There were also exhibits by sponsoring companies, mock interview sessions for cadets with industry professionals and two networking receptions.

“I’ve attended at least eight of these conferences,” says Capt. Deborah Dempsey ’76, the first female maritime academy graduate in an unlimited license program. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for cadets to get to know and form mentorships with successful women in the industry.”

Dempsey recently retired as the first female Columbia River Bar Pilot, in a long career that included many notable “firsts.” She was a keynote speaker at the conference in addition to Rear Admiral Mark H. Buzby, USN (Ret.), Maritime Administrator for MARAD.

“I left the conference with newfound confidence in pursuing a career in the maritime industry,” says Mary Shea, a marine systems engineering major and president of MMA’s Women on the Water club. “I’ve since been in contact with many mariners I met at the conference, and this network provides backbone for that confidence.”█

Photos: College Relations

Waterfront

On a Broad Reach

Sailing team enters new year with great forecast.

Boats are hauled, sails folded and stored. The days are short and sometimes dreary in Maine now. But members of the MMA Sailing team have ample reason to feel optimistic as they look to the spring racing season.

With the guidance of new head coach Taylor Martin, the sailing team completed its fall season with a climb in collegiate standings, and individuals from the team enjoyed successful summer sailing in Gulf of Maine Ocean Racing Association (GMORA) events.

“We traveled to and competed against teams from across New England in dinghies and keelboats and had a very successful season,” says Martin. “The team ended up qualifying for the fall New England Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association championship for the first time since 2008. Overall, the team now ranks 17th out of 48 teams.”

The GMORA summer races included students racing on Tasman, a Sydney 38, in various pursuit and fleet competitions across the Gulf from June to October, including the MS Harborfest and Around Islesboro regattas, led by MMA Sailing Master J.M. Payne.

“Almost half of the team is freshmen,” says Martin, “and we have a great incoming class. That bodes well for the future.

“The biggest challenge is to change the team mindset to believe we are not a second-tier program, that we are capable of competing against Harvard, Yale, MIT and the other teams ranked top five in the district, which is the upper echelon in the country, really,” says Martin. “That is our goal and an important next step.”█

Photos: Mariners Athletics

Athletics

2018 Hall of Fame Inductees

Four alumni recognized at Homecoming.

This year’s William J. Mottola Athletics Hall of Fame Class include, shown below (from left): Joe Crowe ’06 (Football), Rebecca Allen ’08 (Volleyball), John Fairbanks ’52 (Baseball & Football) and Jed Johnson ’10 (Basketball).

Fairbanks had an outstanding football career with the Mariners, playing on both sides of the ball and serving as the team’s kicker at times. He was inducted into the Maine Maritime Academy Wall of Honor in 2014.

Crowe, an All-New England Selection and two-time First Team All NEFC selection, helped lead the Mariners to an ECAC Bowl Game as a player and was part of a team that won two Admiral’s Cups. Crowe also served as assistant football coach.

Allen, a two-time NAC All-Academic team selection and 2007 ESPN/CoSIDA Academic All-America, was named to the NAC All-Conference team three times, and ranked first in the nation in service aces per game in 2007. Allen is the all-time leader in service aces with 329, ranks second in assists with 2,191 and 0.97 service aces per set. She holds the singles-season record for attack percentage (63.0) and service aces per set (1.30).

Johnson, the all-time scoring leader for Men’s Basketball with 1,618 points, averaged a career double-double of 18.2 points and 13 rebounds per game while shooting a career average of 54.6 percent from the floor. Johnson ranks first in program history in field goals made (632), free throws made (331), free throws attempted (474), rebounds (1,155), rebounding average (13.0), defensive rebounds (782), defensive rebounds average (8.8), offensive rebounds (373), and offensive rebounds average (4.2). He helped lead the men’s basketball team to 1999-2000 North Atlantic Conference (NAC) Championship and 2001-2002 & 2002-2003 NAC Finals. Johnson was a four-year NAC All-Tournament team selection and a three-time NAC First Team All-Conference selection.█

Photo: Mariners Athletics

Facilities

Dining Hall Renovation

A major dining hall renovation in the Alfond Student Center was completed in mid-September. The dining hall has more square footage, new food stations and additional food options. New features include a new deli counter, pizza oven, grill area with cook-to-order options, double-sided salad bar, a new generator in case of power interruption, and more.█

Photos: Rhonda Varney

Career Services

Career Fair Grows

MMA hosted its 18th Annual Career Fair on October 18. There were 93 companies with more than 200 recruiters in attendance. Companies were diverse and offered opportunities to each of the school’s majors.

More than 20 companies were recruiting on campus for the first time, including Evergreen Packaging, Noble Supply and Logistics, Seaward Services, and Weeks Marine. You can view a complete list of companies on the Career Services web page at mainemaritime.edu.

93 Companies, 200 Recruiters

Student and alumni attendance numbered more than 650 people. Students prepared resumes before the event and developed their networking skills to obtain field experiences and jobs. Many interviewed following the event.

The windy weather kept representatives from sailing on the schooner Bowdoin, which we had offered, but many stayed to go on campus tours after the event. We received great feedback from the companies and students. Many thanks to the companies, students, faculty, and staff who helped make this year’s event a great success.█

—By Capt. Joe Curtis, Director of Career Services

Marine Transportation / Continuing Education

Polar Ops Up

New courses fill growing training needs for mariners.

Basic and Advanced Polar operations courses are gaining interest among MMA students and professional mariners due to potential job opportunities and escalating regulatory requirements.

“The courses are quickly being recognized as valuable training and requests for the classes are increasing,” says Capt. Ralph Pundt, Professor of Marine Transportation & Operations who developed the courses with aid in part from a U.S. Department of Homeland Security partner grant with the University of Alaska’s Arctic Domain Awareness Center.

“Having had many opportunities to deliver fuel to McMurdo Station and Terra Nova Bay in Antarctica, as well as to the U.S. Air Force base in Thule, Greenland, I am well aware of the dangers encountered when ships, ice and foul weather meet in very remote areas,” says Pundt.

“We have graduated 36 students with USCG/STCW Basic Polar Operations endorsements,” he says, “and are on track to fill the class with 24 students next spring.”

The basic course has also been completed by six professional mariners as part of MMA’s Continuing Education curriculum. Students learn about vessel operations and crew safety limitations in extreme polar conditions, as well as how to interpret ice charts and data that affect polar passage planning. Understanding the Polar Code, the role of the Polar Council, operating in environmentally sensitive and diverse ecosystems, are other topics covered.

Maine Maritime is the only academy to offer the course, which meets USCG and STCW requirements.

The advanced course is mandated through the Polar Code and was created by Pundt for masters and chief mates in charge of operations aboard vessels transiting the polar regions as of January 2018, and includes 2-3 days of classroom / simulation training. The knowledge-based portions of both the basic and advanced courses are completed online.

The United States Coast Guard ice breaker operations group is currently reviewing the courses and simulator to determine if the training would benefit their fleet operations training needs. “We expect to gain valuable feedback from their experience,” says Pundt.█

Photos: Billy R. Sims

Lessons that Work

Kayleigh McCoy’s field experience is key to opening doors to the working world.

A Maine Maritime Academy education combines knowledge and skills learned in classrooms and labs with field experiences in real-world job settings.

It’s a formula soon to pay off for Kayleigh McCoy, a power engineering technology major, Class of 2019, who completed an internship with Penobscot Energy Recovery Company (PERC) in Orrington, Maine, and then continued working into the academic year.

The facility, which uses processed solid waste for fuel to generate electricity for thousands of Maine homes, has received awards from the EPA and others for its resource stewardship and efficiency.

McCoy stands before solid waste from Maine municipalities that is processed and burned to generate electricity. Her job has taken her from handling a shovel to the facility’s control room operations.

More than 85 students have participated in MMA’s stationary plant field experience program at PERC since 1993, working on operations and maintenance crews, rotating 12-hour shifts during the summer under the watchful eyes of PERC’s supervisors and operators.

Although McCoy completed the summer program as required, she has continued to work at the plant on weekends during the school year.

“I perform most of the duties of a normal boiler operator,” says McCoy, “including helping manage feeders, boiler startup and shutdown, general maintenance and troubleshooting.”

“The work ethic is something I’ll take with me to the Navy.”

“The technical aspects of the job will definitely be helpful in the professional world, as well as the troubleshooting,” says McCoy, “but it’s also physically demanding, sometimes requiring shoveling ash for hours at a time.”

Students who’ve completed field experiences at PERC have gone on to become field service engineers, project engineers, and start-up and commissioning engineers with Siemens, General Electric, Babcock & Wilcox and SNC Lavalin, as well others, says Chuck Easley, Cooperative Education Coordinator.

Currently, about 70 students are qualified to participate in the 2019 stationary plant program, which is overseen by Mark Cote, Professor of Engineering.
McCoy’s first field experience was with Kapstone Paper in Longview, Washington.

She is enrolled in the MMA NROTC program and plans to work in the area of nuclear propulsion in the Navy’s submarine force upon graduation.

“The work ethic at PERC is something I’ll take with me to the Navy,” says McCoy, “Everyone works very hard, and I hope to emulate that.”█

Photos: Emily Baer