Educational Mission
Louise Graff and Tori Murden are committed to involving young people in every phase of this endeavor. Although the team expects to make educational connections with other schools, the Shawnee High School Career Academies offer several opportunities for educational linkages. The students may lend support to this project in any number of ways.
The involvement of young people in this endeavor will go well beyond photo-opportunities and motivational speeches. For example, the boat will be assembled at Shawnee High School with the assistance of students from the School's aviation magnet. Students from Shawnee's Travel and Tourism academy will assist the team with important logistical considerations such as shipping food duffels through customs and the hazardous transportation of stove fuel. School officials and the American Pearl working committee have identified no less than twenty areas in which the race could become part of the fall curriculum.
Aviation Magnet
- Assist with Boat Building
- Research Epoxy Finishes
- Design and Build an Hydraulic Bladder System to Shift Ballast
- Allowing Trim: Fore and Aft
- Allowing Trim: Starboard and Port
- Help to Instruct Team on Navigation
- Help to Instruct Team on Radio Communications
- Help to Instruct Team on Meteorology
- Help to Decide on Placement of Crucial Equipment
- Desalinator(s)
- Global Positioning Systems
- Bilge Pumps
- Safety Equipment
- Design Light-Weight Repair Kits for Crucial Systems
- Advise Team on Physical Fitness Issues
Travel and Tourism Magnet
- Research Logistics for Boat Transport
- Boat: Louisville to the Canary Islands
- Boat: Barbados to Louisville
- Research Logistics for Team Transport
- Research Logistics for Equipment Transport
- Research Logistics for Moving Food Duffels through Customs
- Packaging Needs to Remain Watertight
- Research Logistics for Hazardous Materials Transport (Stove Fuel)
- Investigate How to Move an Entourage with Open Travel Dates
- Investigate Housing in Barbados for Those Traveling to Meet the Team
- Explore Nutritional Issues with Team
- Answer Passport, Visa, and Immunization Questions