Operation Inspire Students Sail Off St. Croix with Support from Cane Bay Partners
“Two, six, heave!”
It is the kind of call that has long echoed across sailing vessels as crews work together to raise the sails. Recently, students in Operation Inspire, our flagship educational initiative, stepped aboard the schooner Denis Sullivan for a hands-on maritime learning experience.
Fifty-five OI students participated in the experience over two afternoons on the waters off St. Croix.
During their time aboard the vessel, students explored the fundamentals of sailing, practiced nautical terminology, and worked together to raise the sails. The experience provided a unique opportunity to step outside the traditional classroom environment and engage with learning in a real-world setting.
Programs like this help reinforce classroom learning while building important 21st century skills such as teamwork, communication, and collaboration.
Participants included students from Ricardo Richards Elementary, Pearl B. Larsen PreK-8, Eulalie Rivera PreK-8, and Claude O. Markoe Elementary schools.
The experience was made possible through the partnership and support of the Virgin Islands Department of Education and the principals of the participating schools.
Cane Bay Cares is grateful for the longstanding partnership between Cane Bay Partners and World Ocean School, which has spanned more than 16 years and helped make this opportunity possible for OI students.
Cane Bay Partners Cofounder Kirk Chewning and his wife Leah Chewning also support World Ocean School in other capacities, helping expand opportunities like this for students across the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Through programs like Operation Inspire and partnerships like these, Cane Bay Cares remains committed to expanding educational opportunities for the youth in our community.
Cane Bay Cares is a service initiative of St. Croix-based Cane Bay Partners VI, LLLP. Cane Bay Cares was established after three strong hurricanes, including two Category 5 storms, Irma and Maria, caused much damage to St. Croix during September 2017. The initiative has a goal of providing relief to the citizens of St. Croix. To make this possible, we have partnered with St. Croix Foundation, which is a 501c3 nonprofit that was established in 1990. All donations to Cane Bay Cares are donations to St. Croix Foundation and are 100% tax deductible.
Cane Bay Partners VI, LLLP was formed in June 2009 and founded by internationally experienced business executives with many years of experience in the financial services industry. Focusing our efforts primarily in the financial services industry, our management consulting practice specializes in providing services to clients in need of sophisticated risk management models, debt collections organizations which require liquidation models and analytics, and portfolio management companies desiring a variety of services.
Since 1990, St. Croix Foundation for Community Development has been advancing holistic community development as a pathway to economic prosperity, self-sufficiency, and sustainability. Established in the wake of Hurricane Hugo, today the Foundation is one of the premier place-based philanthropic leaders in the Virgin Islands. Having served as the conduit of over $37 million private and public sector dollars invested into the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Foundation’s impact has netted national recognition in almost every priority area – from economic development and community revitalization to public health, education reform, and nonprofit development. Our mission is to encourage greater philanthropic activity, to marshal resources, and to act as a catalyst to benefit the people of the Virgin Islands.