The Tabor Boy Project Celebrates Its First Birthday!

The Tabor Boy Project is one year old!

It all start after attending a Headmaster's Council meeting at Tabor Academy on April 14, 2007. I have always felt incredibly fortunate to have had the opportunity to go to Tabor but that day really brought it home for me. While It is great to catch up with a few of the Council members that I went to school with or which I knew from living locally, the real inspiration came from the camaraderie and fellowship that spanned across the decades represented that day.

Last April Drs. John Crosby and Karl Kistler made a great presentation during the Headmaster's Council meeting that became the inspiration for the first post on The Tabor Boy Project. Teaching Ocean Science at Tabor. Last Friday, April 11th, Dr. Crosby, this time with 5 Tabor students, made another fascinating presentation about the Caribbean studies program that took place aboard SSV Tabor Boy this winter. Clearly for me the highlight was listening to the animated young students tell stories that will stay with them for a lifetime. It's great to know that at her advanced age, Tabor Boy still has it in her to excite young people, foster real learning and transform adventurous adolescents into young adults. Check out the Caribbean Studies section of Tabor's website.

My mother found the these two photos in a shoe box last week. In the top one, that's me on the left handing Captain George Glaeser a present. To the right of Capt. is Billy Rose, also Class of 1977 and First Lieutenant on Tabor Boy. For a little spooky foreshadowing, I'm wearing a t-shirt from the American Sail Training Association, an organization that I would go on to lead 24 years later. (2001-2006)



To me the above picture really captures the essence of my experience at Tabor. There's Capt. and Mrs. G. sitting around with us boys and a couple of dogs: one big happy family. Of course, we all had our families at home but this was our Tabor family all brought closer by our shared experiences aboard Tabor Boy. For me The Tabor Boy Project has extended that family even farther.

I started using Google Analytics to track activity on The Tabor Boy Project in August 2007 and thought you may be interested in some of these statistics:

• 109 Crew members
• 425+ photographs
• 2,812 visitors
• 1,783 absolute unique visitors
• 19,144 page views
• 53 countries
• Dozens of blog and forum posts and replies,
• Countless messages between members

More important than any of these numbers is that The Tabor Boy Project, through words and pictures, tells the incredible story of this amazing ship that has changed so many young lives over the years. It has reconnected lost shipmates and been the catalyst for new friendships.

I had very few expectations when I launched The Tabor Boy Project on April 15, 2007. It was simply an experiment in using web 2.0 / social networking tools. One of the exciting things about it is you just don't know what somebody will contribute. I sincerely thank all who have done so over the first year and I look forward to welcoming aboard more new members, reading more sea stories and viewing more old photographs over the next year. The Tabor Boy Project comes to life through your amazing contributions. Let's keep telling the story together.

Cross posted in The Tabor Boy Project and Sea-Fever blog.