The End is Near

Well, the end of the semester is only two weeks away. Some days I look back and think that the semester flew right by. Then there are those days when I think that time has actually slowed down, just to make everything seem longer. Well it doesn't matter anymore, because classes end next Wednesday. Looking back, I have learned quite a bit. I remember when I first started Celestial Navigation, I was petrified that I would never understand it. It's now safe to say that I am grasping the concepts quite well.

With a little less than two weeks left of class, we are suddenly hit with nice weather. Bright blue skies and warm air have finally reached our campus.

With summer in sight, many cadets are making the final arrangements on their summer plans. For my summer, I will be traveling to Galveston, Texas for an internship with G & H Towing Company. I leave June 20th and will return August 24th. My schedule will be 5 days on the tug with 2 days off. I looking forward to working in Galveston and Houston for the summer. One of my shipmates from school also got in an internship with G & H for the summer. From what I hear, it's a whole new level of hot down there. Along with the heat, will come great opportunities to learn about tugs and how they are used in ship assist.

With less than three weeks left I am excited to wrapping up the semester. This won't come without a lot of hard work as the last tests and Finals approach.

Late Night Watch

Last night I stood watch on the bridge from 0000-0400. Watches are generally uneventful. No alarms, the campus was asleep, and I was all alone on the bridge. As the night rolled on, I could hear a little chatter over the VHF Radio. I don't usually pay too much attention to the radio, most chatter doesn't concern the area that our ship is docked at or concern the safety of our vessel. Except on this particular night, I heard a tanker come in over the radio notifying canal control of its position. I recognized the name of the tanker immediately. I had seen this particular vessel in the canal on a number of occasions throughout the last couple years. The tanker wasn't small by any means, she was 600 ft. long (60ft. longer than the T.S Kennedy). Of course it's not a big ship in comparrison to the massive vessels that sail the seas. For our Cape Cod Canal, she was big. Over the next hour I could hear canal control and the vessel communicate back and forth. Soon I could see the tanker on the horizon. It crept slowly towards the T.S. Kennedy. Soon I heard, "Canal Control, Canal Control. Tanker New England approaching Mass. Maritime Academy." It was like something out of a book. I knew there was a mate up on the bridge of that ship standing a watch. I thought to myself, in just a few years I'll be standing on the bridge of a ship doing the same thing. Maybe not going through the Cape Cod Canal, but somewhere out on the big blue. Slowly she crossed astern and went up the canal eastbound.

Tomorrow MMA will host an Open House for all prospective students. I'll be attending of course to help present the academy and the Marine Transportation Major. I am sure looking forward to ship tours and educating prospective students about the T.S Kennedy.

Fun at the Red Sox

On Monday the Wounded Warrior Project donated a number of Red Sox tickets after MMA donated money last week. I was able to get a pair of tickets because I had bought an item at the auction on Sea Term. The money from the auction went to support Wounded Warrior. MMA provided a pair of school buses for students to travel to and from the game. It was an excellent night to attend. The stadium paid tribute to the United States armed forces throughout the game. It was truly something special, especially due to recent world events. The Red Sox defeated the Angels, in what was a great show.

Today I have my interview for squad leader. The petty officer program has been very rewarding. I have learned a lot about my self as a leader. I have learned about what things I need to work on, and the areas that I do well in.

Looking forward, this weekend there will be an Open House for prospective students.

Giving Back

During morning formation, the Academy presented a $5,000 donation to the Wounded Warrior Project. This money was raised by cadets on sea term through numerous events such as raffle tickets for Mayhem in Mayaguez and the auction held on board. A representative from Wounded Warrior was present this morning to receive the gift. This money will go a long way in helping our disabled veterans that are returning or have already returned home.

Well the week is finally over. For most of the week, the campus has been covered in a dense layer of fog. It was common to hear the fog signal from ships, one prolonged blast, in the canal. The use of Radar is essential for the ships to safely navigate the canal when visibility is as restricted as it clearly has been these past few days. As the fog lifted off the campus this morning, it presented a beautiful day with bright blue skies and finally a clear visualization of the canal and all of the traffic in it.

Next week will be Squad Leader interviews for the Petty Officers in Fifth Company.

Weather looks to be promising for the weekend. So get out there and enjoy it. I know I will.

-3/c Joshua Lamm

Cadet Blogger

joshua.lamm@maritime.edu

End of the Season

Spring Track concluded for me on Saturday at the Connecticut College meet. I would like to say that the weather was as nice as last week. Unfortunately, that is not true at all. It rained almost all day, this causes the track to be quite slick. To stay dry, many teams found spots in the gym to hide from the rain. I ran both of my races despite the weather. I am pleased to say that I finished the season well. Hopefully, with hard work and practice I'll perform better next year.

Even though Track is over, the semester still has a lot of time left. With the afternoons off, I'm able to dedicate more time to my studies. The end in sight, as we approach the month of May. With the coming of May, fall semester registration is right around the corner. Next fall's classes are beginning to be posted online. This allows cadets to start creating their schedules for next year. Fall registration is always an exciting point in the semester. I will be taking, a few major classes as well as a free elective and a humanities course. I'm not exactly sure what those will be just yet. I'll be sure to post them as soon as I know.

Looking Ahead:

-Green Club Meeting

-Leadership Meeting

-Lab Day (Thursday's)

Enjoy the weather,

3/c Joshua Lamm

Cadet Blogger

joshua.lamm@maritime.edu

Last Meet

Tomorrow will be my last track meet of the 2011 Spring season. The Buccaneer Track and Field Team will be traveling to Connecticut College to compete. Even though this will be my last track meet of the the season, a select number of athletes from the team will be moving on to other distinguishing meets. I hope to finish strong in the last meet of the season.

The last two days here at MMA have been beautiful. Crisp blue skies, warm weather, and the wind at a lower speed than normal. Surely Spring must be here.

In Basic Seamanship Lab on Thursday we got a chance to go out in the small boats to practice maneuvering and docking. It was exciting as we got a chance to apply classroom knowledge to docking the boats. Eventually we will have to pass a practical assessment to prove our abilities with the boats.

We also had our second morning marching practice with the Fifth Company freshmen as they prepare for the Emory Rice Day marching competition. As a petty officer I got the chance to march them and critique their marching. This is just another step on the way to becoming a squad leader.

Looking ahead to next week, I'm not sure what I will do without having to go to track practice. I'll have to figure that out as I go.

Until Next Time,

3/c Joshua Lamm

Cadet Blogger

joshua.lamm@maritime.edu

Half Way Done

Last week marked the half way point in the semester. Let me tell you, I am excited to report that this semester is flying right by. Recently, Mother Nature has made a small effort to make things a little warmer. Hopefully, we will see warmer climates approaching soon. Spring is finally here and with the new season comes new moods and smiling faces. School is finally beginning to wind down. With midterms behind us, cadets are starting to prepare for finals. Soon Spring Track will be coming to a close. After Track, I'll be spending more time on my studies as finals approach.

Looking forward, I will be sitting for my Squad Leader interview in the next few weeks as the selection process comes to an end. The Petty Officer Program has been very interesting so far. I have learned a lot about myself as a leader. For the most part our biggest tasks have been; monitoring cleaning stations, taking part in inspections, and study hours for the freshmen. I am excited to finish the program and hopefully obtain a position as a squad leader.

Big Week Ahead!

Last week was very exciting as MMA hosted a career fair. Career fairs are great for cadets because a lot of companies make an appearance. The first hour of the fair, only the seniors are allowed to attend. This is because they are the ones that are in need of the jobs. After the first hour the doors opened up to the rest of the cadets. Some cadets are interested in only a few companies, while some go to see everyone there. Personally I was very interested in the shipping companies such as Maersk and CSL. I also got a chance to chat with a few towing companies such as G and H, and Kirby. Overall the career fair was a success, I got a chance to talk to companies that I could potentially apply to work for.

Over the weekend the Buccaneer Track and Field Team competed at Fitchburg State University. The weather was spectacular, this allowed for a great day of running, jumping, and throwing for the team. The mens team had 28 top 10 finishes, putting us in 5th out of 12 for the meet.

As I mentioned earlier, this is a very busy week. Tonight I will have watch from 2000-0000 at the Cadet Information Center. Wednesday will bring this semesters first leadership me

eting. Unlike last semester the leadership meetings held in the spring are for cadets that have applied for 2011-2012 leadership positions. I have applied for the position of Squad Leader in Fifth Company. In addition to Wednesdays meeting, I will have exams in four out of five classes this week. I will be sure to be spending most of my free time studying for the upcoming exams.

Until Next Time,

3/c Joshua Lamm

Cadet Blogger

joshua.lamm@maritime.edu

Super Moon

Did anyone happen to see the moon this weekend? Well if you did, you probably noticed that it looked a little bit bigger than usual. This is because the moon was closer to the Earth this weekend than it has been in a number of years. This is known as Perigee. Perigee is the closest point of approach in the moons orbit around the Earth. In addition to the moon being closer, it was also a full moon. The combination of the moon being closer and the full aspect allowed for it to look a lot bigger in the night sky. As we know, the tides are influenced by the moon. During a full moon, the the high tides are higher than normal and the low tides are lower than normal. These are called Spring Tides. Due to the moon being closer than it has been in a number of years, the Spring Tides were exaggerated more than usual. As I looked out the window this afternoon from my room in Fifth Company, I could see that the low tide was extremely low. The sand bar out in the bay was fully exposed and there was very little water between the shore and the sand bar.

Over the weekend the Buccaneer Track and Field team had their first meet at Northeastern University. This meet wasn't scored as it was the first meet of the season. Everyone performed well considering the colder temperatures. Coming up next weekend the team will travel to Bridgewater State University to compete.

Another week begins, filled with classes, practice, and of course tests and quizzes. On a lighter note, the weather should be getting warmer as the first signs of spring showed today.

Until Next Time,

-3/c Joshua Lamm

joshua.lamm@maritime.edu

In Full Swing

The semester is in full swing now as we have reached the mid way point of the third full week. Classes are going well. I had my first set of quizzes today in Radar and Cel. Nav. They went pretty well for the most part. Radar is a very exciting class as we continue to learn new things each class. One of the things we are learning is rapid radar plotting. This is the ability to look at a radar screen and be able to transfer targets that we see on the radar onto radar plotting sheets. Using these plotting sheet we are able to determine many things such as relative speed and direction, and how close the target will pass us. These rapid radar plots we make will also help us determine whether or not or ship will need to maneuver according to the "Rules of the Road". Tomorrow will also be our first radar assessments in lab. We will need to show competency in several areas to prove that we will be able to perform these tasks as an Officer in Charge of a Navigational Watch (OICNW). We will have OICNW assessments all semester as we progress through the radar course.

Looking forward to this weekend, Buccaneer Track and Field will travel to Northeastern for the first meet of the season.

Signing off,

3/c Joshua Lamm

Cadet Blogger

joshua.lamm@maritime.edu

Week Two!

Everything is flowing well now as we come towards the end of the second week. Classes are in full swing. This semester I am taking classes in Radar, Literature and Film, Celestial Navigation, Basic Seamanship, and Global Marine Distress Safety Systems (GMDSS). Most of these classes are certainly not the average college courses that the run of the mill college student takes. Here at MMA we are fully engulfed in our majors by sophomore year. As reflected in my class schedule, four out of the five classes are major classes. Some of these courses come with labs as well. Actually all of my major classes this semester have labs. Thursday for me is what I like to call "Lab Day". This involves Basic Seamanship lab, Radar lab, and GMDSS lab. These labs are two hours each and run back to back starting at 0800. While this is a very busy day, I like to think of it as one of the best days. This is because I get to do so many neat things such as rowing, use the Radar simulator, and practice Morse Code. When I was a kid I knew what Morse Code was, but I never imagined I would ever need to learn it or use it. Now one of my major courses requires me to be able to understand four words per minute of Morse Code. Learning the code has been interesting as the letters of the alphabet become different "dit's and dah's".

Throughout the rest of the semester, when I blog, I'll try to talk about my different classes so that all of those who are reading can get a feel for what it is I am learning here. Of course I can only speak for the Marine Transportation major, which is nothing like any of the other excellent majors here.

Looking forward, next weekend will be the first meet that the Buccaneer Track and Field team will have. Track is one of my favorite sports because the team is like family. We work hard together, motivate each other, and have great times.

Until Next Time,

3/c Joshua Lamm

Cadet Blogger

joshua.lamm@maritime.edu

Welcome Back!!

Today was the second day of classes for the spring 2011 semester. Everyone has adjusted quite well to the new semester. Cadets returned on Sunday to move in to their new dorm rooms. Upon return many cadets shared stories with others of their winter break. I spent my winter on Sea Term. This years cruise was amazing as expected. If anyone had the chance to read the Follow the Voyage blogs, that was me writing from the ship. Follow the Voyage proved to be a fun project. I addition to FTV, I had my sophomore cruise to be a part of. It was certainly a big change from last year. I was able to do more and be part of more things going on. For example, when I would stand watch, I could contribute to my bridge team. I could offer my input on traffic situation, plot positions, and educate the freshman on how to steer the helm. Watch was a very exciting experience as it opened my eyes to a new understanding of how the ship was operated. Along with watch, I had classes for my major which proved to be very interesting and educating.

Now lets not forget about all the awesome ports that we stopped at. Vera Cruz was certainly exciting. I will admit that there was a language barrier between cadets and the local population. Fortunately there were some English speaking locals that were very hospitable. Barbados provided us with great sun and beaches to relax on. Our last stop was San Juan, Puerto Rico. Now San Juan is a great place to visit. Our ship was docked right in Old San Juan, which offers a great cultural experience.

I'm excited to be back blogging for the spring semester. I'm sure I will have many things to blog about this spring. As usual I will be busy around campus with classes, sports, and the regiment.

Stay tuned for another great semester.

Sincerely,

3/c Joshua Lamm

Cadet Blogger

joshua.lamm@maritime.edu