High Schoolers looking for a better alternative than attending college? If you’re in high school, guidance counselors, teachers and other well-meaning adults have likely told you-repeatedly-that you need to attend college to earn a good living. But is a college degree worth it?
The cost of attending college has increased substantially since your parents were in school. Over the past decade, cost increased by over 25%, and most college graduates leave school with significant amounts of student loan debt. Unfortunately, there are people who will tell you that there’s only one way to do things (this “only way” often involves a four-year degree and working at the same company for thirty years). In reality, there are many options other than college and a single career track. University immediately after high school — while a great choice for many — is not the best choice for everyone.
While you are free to do whatever you want with your young adult years, there are a few principles that will make this time as productive as possible. Knowing that decisions shape your destiny not circumstances, Sea Corps officers mentor these ‘cadets’ to guide them into making the right decisions that will shape a more rewarding and fulfilling life on their own terms.
Although 87% of teens believe life has a purpose, only one in five knows their purpose. The most critical time to define a sense of purpose is in the young adult years since this provides a direction, if not a roadmap, to your actions throughout your life.
The biggest problem with youth today is not stress but “lack of purpose.” Some young people may have decided early on that they know what they want to do in life. But for the majority of young adults, particularly millennials and Gen Z’s, the young adult years are a time for exploration and experimentation. The focus of the program will be on-the-water and general seamanship skills. An emphasis will be placed on preparing Cadets with the skills necessary for careers in the maritime industry, including helping them pursue United States Coast Guard credentials. Tours of operating maritime companies, guest speakers, cadet assignments as interns aboard yachts, commercial vessels, shipyards, and attending various maritime training institutions to gain qualifying credentials required for their first assignment aboard a vessel or shoreside position.
Sea Corps enables youth to maximize their capabilities through pathways such as education, training and life skills with a view to becoming self- sufficient. The program will be reaching motivated youth and offer youth an up-close and personal relationship with the ocean, provide them with opportunities to challenge themselves in an ocean environment, teach responsible seamanship and stewardship, and help them develop important life skills.
