Daily News Photos by CRISTIAN SIMESCU John H. Woodson Junior High student Shakira Rodriguez, 12, and crew member Emily Selinger sit out on the bowsprit while harnessed on the Schooner Roseway.

ST. CROIX - The World Ocean School aboard the schooner Roseway has returned to the territory for their fifth winter plying the waters of St. Croix.

The Roseway and her crew of 10 returned to St. Croix late last week and have already started operating as a school at sea, holding lessons and providing course instruction for seventh-grade students from public junior high schools on the island.

The World Ocean School is a nonprofit organization that provides educational programs for young people while focusing on community building.

More than 600 students from John H. Woodson Junior High, Arthur A. Richards and Elena C. Christian junior high schools will participate in the program, which lasts until May.

Students from Woodson already have started the program. They are taught lessons in science, math, history, English, poetry, environmental and climate change. During the three-hour trips for five days a week, students also learn maritime skills such as navigation, compass and map reading, hands-on sailing lessons, message coding and decoding and the history of the Roseway and other ships like her.

World Ocean School executive director Abby Kidder said the organization ties in with the students' school curriculum with a theme of the day, which include self-worth, communication, trust, teamwork and reflection.

"We're thrilled and excited to be back here," Kidder said. "Our goal is to inspire kids to be excited about learning and to show them opportunities available in the maritime industry."

Kidder also said their goal is to improve the students' understanding and application of the school curriculum while onboard the ship.

Woodson seventh-grade English teacher Janine Crump said the students are always excited to go aboard the ship.

"It's a good opportunity for them and they do learn a lot," Crump said. She said the students often recite the name of the sails and other terminology they learn on the ship.

Glenn Hoheb, one of the students who participated in the program Friday morning, said the trip was fun despite a little seasickness in the beginning.

"I learned how to tie knots, not to be afraid to climb high places and to trust others," Hoheb said.

Kidder said the school program is funded by a $187,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education, administered through the V.I. Department of Education.

In addition to the school program, the Roseway offers sunset sails from 4 to 6:30 p.m. to the public every day to help cover the rest of the costs of operations and to keep the program going. Tickets for public sails cost $45 for adults and $30 for children. The schooner also can be chartered privately for $950 an hour.

They also are looking for additional funding to re-start their weekend sailing program from St. Croix to St. John for eighth-graders.

In the summer, the World Ocean School operates two-week sessions along the Northern Atlantic for high school students. Last summer, the sessions were conducted around Nova Scotia, and next year they will be in the Great Lakes.

The Roseway was built in 1925 in Essex, Mass., and she has been a fishing vessel in the Grand Banks, a pilot boat guiding Allied vessels through minefields and antisubmarine nets during World War II and a charter vessel off the Maine coast. She is one of six surviving Grand Banks schooners and a registered U.S. National Historic Landmark.

The crew of of the Roseway will hold an open house from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Sunday at the Gallows Bay dock, where tours onboard the schooner will be available.

For more information, log on to www.worldoceanschool.org, and to make reservations for the public day sunset sails or charters, call 340-626-7877.

- Contact Cristian Simescu at 774-8772 ext. 459 or e-mail simescu@dailynews.vi.