On Tuesday May 12, in partnership with Northwest STEM Hub, the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria hosted a Maritime Career Exploration day for local Clatsop County middle school students.

The event featured six industry partners who offered hands-on activities to help students get a feel for career options available in the maritime sector.

Volunteers from the MERTS program at Clatsop Community College offered knot tying while Shaver Transportation showed students how to secure a tugboat line. The OSU Seafood Lab helped students draw a direct line between parts of a fish and how they are used in a variety of products beyond just food. Educators from Oregon Sea Grant focussed on crab pots and crab identification.

The U.S. Coast Guard ELM showed students how to manage heavy chains like they use in the maintenance of Navigation Buoys located along the Columbia River. The Columbia Bar Pilots showed how the smaller pilot ships dock with larger ships to help them navigate the tricky transition from the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean and vice versa.

Around 90 middle school students spent over two hours rotating through these stations and interacting with industry professionals.

At the end of the day a majority of the students attending reported an increased interest in a career in the maritime industry. The Columbia River Maritime Museum hopes to continue to offer this event in the future and expand the event to include more industry partners and involve more students from across the Northwest region.