NYC students set sail on the East River

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NY) - This past academic year, elementary through high school students from nine schools throughout Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens learned how to build wooden sailboats, which they tested out in the East River.

Instructors from the nonprofit after-school program Brooklyn Boatworks met the students for two hours a week to help design and build the boats.

"The unique nature of boat-building and getting to be on the water in New York City, to bring students into team-based activities, science learning, math learning in a non-traditional environment," said Marjorie Schulman, Executive Director of Brooklyn Boatworks. 

"It is the best feeling ever," said Alyssa St. Hill, a former participant in the program who now works as an instructor. "These kids are, they are worth everything, they are the whole point and purpose and being around them and teaching them and learning from them the whole year, it makes memories."

Since its beginning in 2005, Brooklyn Boatworks has worked with hundreds of students and says it plans to keep growing each year until it can reach every student in the city.