Let’s Go! Friends Hope

Tanesashi Primary School (Hachinohe, Japan) and Willapa Elementary School (Menlo, WA, USA) | 5th Grade

Updates:

1st Voyage - Quiet after 109 days at sea

  • November 15, 2018 - Launch day

    This miniboat was launched by Mr. Nakamura’s (head of the Okuki Branch of Minamihama Fisherman Cooperative 20KM in the Pacific Ocean where the offshore currents converge on the Morning of November 15th.

    Some picture of the class preparing their miniboat:

    “Fifth grade students of Willapa Valley are participating in a mini boat project with the Astoria Columbia River Maritime Museum. The mini boat project is a program where students work in teams to build two real mini boats. Over an 8 week period of time students have been working on the hull, the keel, the deck, the cargo figure head , sail, etc. Our teacher Nate Sandel, from the Maritime museum, will be taking one of our boats to Japan for our partner school Tanesashi Primary, students there will be designing one side of our sail for the boat that we made for them to launch across the Pacific Ocean to us. The other boat we built will be launched from Pacific Coast by us. Each boat will have a GPS transmitter on board so when the boats are launch students can see where their boats are traveling. Students are trying to sail their boats successfully across the Pacific Ocean. No other schools have been able to accomplish this challenge. But we, the students of Willapa Elementary, have the confidence to complete this challenge.” -Kylee from the Cargo Figurehead Team

  • March 4, 2019 - Quiet at sea

    We last received a location from Lets Go Friends Hope on March 4, 2019.

About the Class

This is Willapa Valley Elementary School in Menlo, Washington.

Teachers- Diana Telders and Sherrie Wonhoff

About Us

The Columbia River Maritime Museum’s Miniboat Program was developed in partnership with Educational Passages and the Consular Office of Japan in Portland. Students in the Pacific Northwest build unmanned sailboats equipped with GPS transmitters, one to launch from the coast of North America and the other to send to their partner class in Japan for launching.

While the boats are at sea, students on opposite sides of the Pacific Ocean will track their movements. Using real-time data on ocean currents and weather, students will share their predictions on where the boats will go next, and hopefully create lasting friendships.

The mission: to get the boats to cross the Pacific Ocean.

The outcome: through hands-on activities and meaningful opportunities, students are enlightened and empowered.