Williams-Mystic Program

Quite possibly (to some people) the most awesome study-away semester program ever. Involves going down to Connecticut, living in houses of 4-6 people from various liberal arts colleges, where you cook (and sometimes maybe even clean) for yourself, across from a museum with three tall ships and several hundred smaller ones. Also involves a 10-day trip on a 133-foot tall ship, a week-long trip to California or Washington State, and a 4-day trip to Louisiana or the Chesapeake Bay. Also copious time spent doing individual research in a marsh, river, beach, rocky intertidal zone, or whatever coastal environment you prefer. And reading Moby Dick, and learning about marine policy. All with amazingly always-there-for-you professors. Super-interdisciplinary.

The entire program has 20 (+/- 2) students with five professors:

• Jim Carlton (Marine Ecology)
• Glenn Gordinier (Maritime History, 1600-present)
• Lisa Gilbert (Oceanography)
• Katy Robinson Hall (Marine Policy)
• Mary K. Bercaw Edwards or Dan Brayton (Literature of the Sea)

You also get to take skills, including:

• Squad
• Boat handling
• Boatbuilding
• Shipsmithing
• Sea chanteys
• Celestial navigation

Williams College alumni of the Williams-Mystic program include Andrea Burke '06, Evan Chadwick '06, Tyler Corson-Rikert '06, Candice Corvetti '07, Eliot Crafton '06, Diana Davis '07, Elizabeth Doran '06, Emily Fertig '06, Jamie Hensel '05, Ariel Heyman '08, Elise Leduc '06, Sara Martin '07, Abby McBride '06, Jane McCamant '05, Christine M. Marshall '08, Katie Montgomery '07, Jim Prevas '06, Macy Radloff '06, Alden Robinson '06, Kate Scheider '07, Eleanor Schmidt '06, and Erin Weekley '06. Several of these have become real, live sailors.