The Bayfront Maritime Center and Larson Texts have a unique similarity that’s core to their daily operations: creating curriculum.
Through Big Ideas Learning, a Larson Text subsidiary, a gift of $100,000 over six years is provided to Erie’s Bayfront Maritime Center for the construction of their School Ship, Schooner Porcupine.
The ship is a historical representation of the topsail schooner that fought in the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812.
The overall goal of the project and support from Big Ideas Learning is to provide maritime-themed curriculum for onboard programming once the ship is in the water. That science and technology vision is incorporated into its composition: fiberglass hull, steel keel and a wooden deck, wooden masts and mostly wooden interior.
Besides its primary function as a floating classroom offering half-day or full-day sails for schoolchildren, the Porcupine also will conduct overnight programs, public sails, private charters and special programming, making it a true piece of the Erie maritime community.
