Students at Coast Mountain College will gain hands-on experience with a new mobile marine classroom beginning in September. The BC government provided $250,000 to Coast Mountain College to purchase a new 7.6-metre (27 foot), 12-passenger, aluminum-hulled boat to serve students and staff in the college’s applied coastal ecology program. The new boat is named Na Malgsa Aks, meaning “the story the water tells” in the La̱xyuubm Ts’msyen language.
The combined classroom and field-work experience the boat will enable will prepare students for careers in sustainability, ecology, and fish and wildlife conservation. The technical skills students learn in the program are in demand for more than 111,000 anticipated job openings in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) expected in BC by 2031.
