Schooner Sultana: A Sailing & Learning Platform for More Than 100,000 Students
Drew McMullen, president of the Sultana Education Foundation in Chestertown, MD, was feeling upbeat when he spoke with our editor in mid-September, as sailing tickets for the Downrigging Festival (October 30 to November 1) had almost sold out.
Along with tall ship tours, boat rides, a ship parade and illumination, lectures, exhibits, live bluegrass music, and fireworks, at this year’s Downrigging weekend, the foundation will celebrate the 25-year anniversary of the Schooner Sultana’s launch.
McMullen co-founded the organization with boat builder John Swain 30-plus years ago to build a full-scale reproduction of a 97-foot topsail schooner. He says, “I was set to go to grad school for underwater archeology. John asked me to help him, and I have not left.”
Why did it take five years from conception to launch? “In the beginning it was just John and me. It took a couple of years to assemble a team of community leaders, experienced fundraisers, and volunteers to make the Sultana possible.
“I think our vision for the boat came to fruition. The whole organization has gone so far beyond the boat, but from the beginning we had a vision of a big old boat to take out kids who don’t pay you money. We launched in 2001. By 2003 we were totally booked. Today we have 90 percent of the same clients we had in 2003. For example, we’ve worked with the Caroline County School District for 20 years straight.”
The Sultana Education Foundation primarily works with third-, fourth-, and fifth-graders from six school districts who sail onboard the schooner and participate in various other programs the foundation offers.
“We’re now well over 100,000 kids who’ve come sailing on the boat,” says McMullen, who’s in his 31st year with the organization. “We have teachers bringing their students onboard who had sailed on the Sultana when they were kids!”
From summer camps to youth and adult paddling programs and other excursions, including overnighters, the Sultana Education Foundation has grown well beyond the boat’s programs, which comprise only a quarter of what they do today. The organization’s campus includes a Nature Center, a wetlands preserve, and other classroom and office buildings in Chestertown.
McMullen says, “We’re looking at expanding our facilities again.” Of course, programming will always evolve. “If you can find a way to fund a program, the schools will come to them… When we started 30-odd years ago, it was in response to kids on the Eastern Shore not having much access to the Chesapeake. If there’s anything we see now, it’s that technology and screens have kids spending less time outside than ever.”
Thanks to a 25-year-old schooner built by Swain and hundreds of volunteers and the educational programs that have blossomed around it, those kids have more outdoor opportunities and more ways to learn about the Chesapeake Bay than ever. Happy Anniversary, Schooner Sultana, from the team at SpinSheet!
See you at the Downrigging Festival, October 30 to November 1. Learn more at downrigging.org.
