what they
Say About Us...
Mountain View School District
July 15, 2003
As an educator in the Mountain View School District for the past 32
years, I have been a child advocate for programs that have had a great
impact on children...not only as process when they are learning equations,
facts and dates, but also in the lessons they learn that will help them
in their adult lives. Top Sail is a program that has provided life lessons
for so many of our boys and girls in the past, and we hope will in the
future.
Independence, honesty, trust, sense of duty, resilience, resourcefulness,
courage, strength, and intelligence are but a few of the words that
describe what our boys and girls learn after having been exposed to
the short training trips and the one-week sail aboard one of the sailing
vessels provided by the Los Angeles Maritime Institute. At such a crucial
time in their development; at a time when a strong nudge in the right
direction can make the difference between being a responsible, productive
adult, or yielding to the weakness of negative peer pressure, Top Sail
has helped provide many of our boys and girls with the skills and self-belief
necessary to choose avenues that will serve them well in their future
lives.
The experience our children receive, many of whom have come from homes
that are below the poverty line and are replete with the barriers that
often prevent success, helps them see that through a belief in self,
through hard work and training, and through teamwork and determination,
that they too can help propel themselves towards making correct decisions
in their future.
The Mountain View School District strongly supports this outstanding
TopSail Program, and the cooperation and encouragement from the staff
of the Los Angeles Maritime Institute. We believe that their goals and
beliefs in children are congruent to ours and that they should continue
to receive support from all areas public and private. This program is
outstanding.
Sincerely,
Alan F. Morier
Director, Special Projects
Mountain View School District
Bresee Foundation
February 7, 2002
I am writing this letter in support of the Twin Brigantine boat building
project of the Los Angeles Maritime Institute (LAMI). Although I rarely
write a letter of support like this, I am writing because the unique
nature of LAMI's programs do not necessarily translate well into the
text of a grant proposal.
The Bresee Foundation has been closely involved with LAMI's TopSail
Youth Program for the last three years. In conjunction with our LA Bridges-Virgil
program approximately 15 youth each year have participated and have
enjoyed and greatly benefited from this truly unique and challenging,
yet nurturing, program that changes thousands of young lives every year.
It has been our experience at Bresee that youth who participate in
this experience return with a sense of accomplishment and a feeling
that they can overcome other obstacles in their lives.
I believe that the long-term returns on investment in benefits to our
community are well worth the initial cost and effort needed to build
these life-changing vessels. I strongly urge you to support the construction
of these vessels and this program.
Sincerely,
Rev. Jeff Carr, Executive Director
Bresee Foundation
Los Angeles, CA
South El Monte High School
"Unlike a science experiment, we cannot run a control on each
kid to see how they would have turned out with this program and without
this program. But, as teachers on the "front lines" daily,
we see quiet, but deep, transformations over the course of a year in
kids who participate in (TopSail's) day sails and the voyage (to Catalina
Island). We see kids who were previously non-participants begin to reach
out in different ways; volunteer for San Gabriel river cleanup days,
turn failing grades into passing grades, take the steps toward college,
join clubs, take positions of leadership, offer to help, walk taller,
straighten up, smile and look you in the eyes and they ask for more
responsibility and want to be a part of the solution."
"When our kids experience sailing, they soon understand that it
is a rare opportunity to live an experience, which is far more generous
and enriching than their daily experience. They come up to it by working,
playing, communicating and participating fully with the crew of the
"Bill of Rights" (one of LAMI's sailing vessels) who are better
than medicine for our youth. For these reasons, we are committed to
bring the TopSail Program to our students…"
- Dolores Bravo, Science Instructor
- Thomas Griffith, Social Science Instructor
The Dwight Stuart Youth Foundation
"We have chosen to financially support the Los Angeles Maritime
Institute's TopSail Youth Program because it is an extraordinary program
with an ambitious idea of using sail training to address the challenge
of keeping at-risk youth in school. The new experience of being on the
sea and relied upon to sail a tall ship changes even the toughest, most
jaded, adolescent. A plethora of school subjects come to life in this
real-world classroom as the participating youth learn about the natural
world and about the potential within themselves."
"Jim Gladson's quiet and observant way of connecting to kids is
a special philosophy that he teaches the dedicated volunteers of the
program. The investment in time, resources and genuine enthusiasm made
by all the volunteers transcends the vast majority of programs we review.
We are fortunate and honored to be able to contribute to the continuing
work of the TopSail crew."
- Theresa Luo, Administrative Director
