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Students Learn, Have Fun in Popular Port Educational Programs

“Any place that anyone young can learn something useful from someone with experience is an educational institution.” – Al Capp, creator of L’il Abner

Standing on the deck of Argosy Cruises’ Lady Mary this past spring, 23 fourth graders from Bellevue’s Newport Heights Elementary got an up-close view of the Seattle harbor. For some, it was their first time on a boat. “I saw a lot of cool things, like when the cranes lifted containers and put them on a ship,” said Tom, a student in Susan Ball’s class.

Boat tours of the Seattle seaport are part of the Port of Seattle’s Sea-Air School, one of several educational programs for elementary through high school students. Designed to help prepare students for their future in the global marketplace, the programs provide first hand views of Port facilities and their role in supporting international trade. After touring the harbor, Mohamed, a student at Seattle’s Ingraham High, said, “I learned a lot, including that one of every four jobs in Seattle depends on trade.”

This past year, more than 10,000 students, teachers and chaperones attended Sea-Air School, at both the seaport and at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

In addition to seaport and airport tours, Port employees teach a 45-minute trade class. In one of the more popular hands-on activities, students examine a table full of products, including raw logs, toys, marking pens and candy bars, and guess whether each item is an import or an export. They also learn about the wide range of jobs at the Port, including purchasing agents, pipe fitters, police, firefighters and professional workers.

For high school students preparing to go to college or to enter the workforce, the Port’s Airport 2020 program provides a half-day look at airport operations, including behind the scenes tours and presentations from aviation industry employees, such as pilots, air traffic controllers from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), airport maintenance workers and other airport and airline professionals. These sessions are designed to introduce students to the wide variety of careers available in aviation within the Puget Sound Region.

The Port also is proud to be a sponsor of Aviation High School, Washington state’s first aviation-themed high school. Led by the Highline School District, Aviation High School is open to students throughout King County who have a passion for aviation and aerospace. Also in support of the school district, the Port is an active participant in the Highline Schools Foundation for Excellence, a non-profit organization supporting a range of student and teacher programs. HMSHost and the Port sponsor an annual golf tournament, which in five years has raised about $218,000 for the foundation’s college scholarship fund.

For high school, undergraduate and graduate students seeking work experience, the Port offers numerous internships. The Charles P. Huey High School Intern program offers economically disadvantaged young people and teens of color opportunities to build reliable work and life skills. College students of all backgrounds and majors can apply for internships in a wide range of professional fields in the Port’s airport, seaport and economic development divisions. Each year, an average of 25 to 30 students work at the Port during the summer. Several current Port employees, including Chief Financial Officer Dan Thomas, started their Port careers as interns.

In addition, Port professionals regularly serve as guest speakers in local college classes, addressing topics such as trade and logistics, security, real estate development and transportation planning. The Port seeks to form partnerships with professors and students to address a range of public policy and related research questions.

As they head back to class this fall, students are likely not thinking about the Port of Seattle as part of their education. But a visit to Port facilities may start a life-long interest in learning and working in trade and transportation. A student from Ms. Ball’s fourth grade class may one day be a teenager in Aviation High School or a college intern helping design roads and piers for the Seattle harbor. As one fourth grader named Seiji said, “I learned about how the Port of Seattle works. I hope I remember that for the rest of my life.”