And increasingly, as the voyage goes on, they take more and more responsibility until, by the end, they actually run the ship. Schwarzman says students become more confident in themselves by the end of the program. It's self confidence born from real accomplishments. Not only are the girls living and learning in a way they've never done before, but most are giving up some of the technologies that they took for granted growing up. We'll jump overboard and go swimming and wash our hair in the water and sometimes fresh water rinse afterwards.
Students learn to sleep on rocking beds and live without many of the conveniences they're used to.
With a total of 23 people living and working on the 150-foot ship for two months, participants have to make some sacrifices. Yet Schwarzman believes that the rewards that come from the experience of learning in a floating classroom are well worth it. Schwarzman feels that students are challenged to do a variety of new and difficult tasks aboard the ship. We're doing actual research that many high school students don't have the opportunity to do. That is, instead of a lab in a classroom, we're living in a real world lab.