Community Relations: Hamilton, Port Arthur

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With the support of the Hamilton Port Authority, City Kidz has developed a multi-use space for programming and activities for teenagers. The Port of Port Arthur recently completed Camp SeaPort 2014, a week of port-sponsored adventures, designed to introduce high school level students to careers in the maritime industry.

Hamilton: Port Authority-Sponsored City Kidz Studio Offers Teens Space to Meet, Learn and Lead

With the support of the Hamilton Port Authority, City Kidz has developed a multi-use space for programming and activities, complete with lounge areas, and a performance space.

City Kidz is one of Hamilton’s best-recognized and most successful organizations for youth in Hamilton. Thousands of families have a connection with City Kidz, including the 2,300 children visited personally at their homes every week.

While City Kidz programs for young children are well-established, the organization identified a need to provide experiences and programming to help guide youth aged 12 to 16 through the special challenges of teenager-hood, and equip them with the skills and confidence to set goals and achieve them.

A three-year, $60,000 commitment from the port will help City Kidz outfit the Youth Studio with interior finishings, furniture, and audio and video equipment. That is an addition to port donations from 2011 to 2014 totaling more than $250,000.

More than 150 young people are involved in the popular youth leadership program, which provides opportunities to develop their leadership and public speaking skills, mentor younger children, and give back to their community.

As the port explains, "The Youth Studio is unique in Hamilton, and meets a need for a positive space designed with youth specifically in mind."

Camp SeaPort 2014 at Port Arthur 

The Port of Port Arthur recently completed Camp SeaPort 2014, a week of port-sponsored adventures, designed to introduce high school level students to careers in the maritime industry.

The week began with tours of the dock areas and terminals of the port. Texas A&M University – Galveston docked with a full complement of Sea Aggies, who meet with campers and provided them with vessel tours and ship familiarization. The cadets and campers shared a lunch and discussed career opportunities at the Port Arthur International Seafarers Center.

Via Skype, campers had a conversation with David Wright, professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and co-author (withDavid Zoby) of Fire on the Beach: Recovering the Lost Story of Richard Etheridge and the Pea Island Life Savers. The book recounts how a group of African Americans from the Outer Banks of North Carolina provided life saver duties.

The SeaPort campers also had an opportunity to interact with various U.S. Coast Guard professionals and observed several demonstrations of USCG capabilities, including a tour of part of the Sabine-Neches Waterway. They also took a water tour of the Neches River. Big Thicket Association representatives and Terrie Looney of the Texas AgriLife-Sea Grant program pulled out testing kits so the teens could perform tests for salinity, oxygen, Ph levels, nitrogen, and phosphates on the waters of the Thicket. Each teen also had a chance to steer the boat a short distance.

Camp SeaPort is sponsored by the Port of Port Arthur and was the 2010 AAPA recipient of the Stakeholder Awareness, Education and Involvement Award.

"Camp SeaPort celebrated its sixth year and I want to thank all of our maritime partners, educators and parents in supporting this year’s camp," said Port Commissioner Linda Turner Spears. "Camp SeaPort continues to grow and we are looking forward to Camp SeaPort 2015. Memories of Camp Seaport will last for a lifetime."

  
SeaPort campers enjoying land and waterside tours of Port Arthur
Photos/Port of Port Arthur