M’TOWN: THE FLEET’S INGROUND, AT BOAT DAY
Scenes from the New School’s 20th Annual Boat Day — a event which this year almost found itself grounded ashore, before a group of resourceful parents, teachers and kids stepped in to relaunch the fun at an inground swimming pool.
It was going to be a milestone day for the institution that calls itself “one of New Jersey’s best-kept private school secrets” — the 20th annual outing in which the students and families of The New School design and build large boats from milk cartons, plastic bottles and other recycled materials. They would then board their boat creations and set sail on Sandy Hook Bay with help from teachers and parents.
Circumstances unfortunately conspired to make Boat Day 2013 a no-go, and it looked for a long moment as though the fleet would fail to set sail for the first time in memory — until a fearless crew of kids, parents and faculty banded together to help the event find safe new harbor, inside a large inground swimming pool at a private residence in Middletown Township.