My teaching career began many years ago. I was a young man being trusted to educate 7th graders at Plymouth Community Intermediate School.

This task consumed me. 

I struggled during my first year to make Social Studies come alive. One of the units I taught was about local history.

We spent lots of time studying the history of the Cape and surrounding areas. This was very exciting to me but, sadly, not to my students.

One Sunday afternoon I took my wife Kathy, son Ryan, (age 4) and daughter Katelyn, (age 3) on a fishing adventure along the coast of Cuttyhunk Island.

Any parent will tell you that keeping young ones interested in fishing while not catching is a real challenge!

So I soon gave up on the fishing and went into Cuttyhunk Harbor, and tied up the boat for a few hours.

I let the kids run and we explored.

As luck would have it, I met the island teacher, Ellie Siefert. We began talking about our respective schools and students.

My school in the town of Plymouth had 2000 middle school students and Ellie's school had one seventh grader, John Paul Hunter, and his dog.

That's when I had an epiphany - a student "Exchange Program" between Cuttyhunk and Plymouth.

The Cuttyhunk Exchange Program

(my best "lesson")

Ellie and I communicated for months in order to bring a Cuttyhunk-Plymouth exchange program to life.

In early Spring, the island's only student, John Paul Hunter, arrived with Ellie as my guests at my very large middle school in Plymouth MA.

The local newspaper loved it, and John could not believe the number of girls in my school. We were then invited to visit John's one-room schoolhouse on Cuttyhunk Island.

In late May I chartered the Captain John boat out of Plymouth with my wife Kathy, my kids Katelyn & Ryan, and 125 seventh graders and chaperones.

Leaving Plymouth harbor and continuing through Cape Cod Bay, transiting the Cape Cod Canal into Buzzards Bay, we finally reached Cuttyhunk Harbor in 3 hours and 15 minutes.

John and Ellie met us at the dock and gave us a grand tour of the school and island followed by a cookout.

My students and staff all agreed that this was, by far, my best "lesson". 

Retirement from Education

As of today October 17th, 2023, I have been retired for 13 years and enjoy a slower pace. It is hard for me to believe that 31 years has gone by since my "best lesson" at Cuttyuhunk Island.

My son Ryan is now 38 years old and will stay up for days fishing-especially when he visits the shoreline of Cuttyhunk to surfcast for stripers.

I can no longer keep up so I've since picked up less strenuous nautical jobs, first with Freedom Boat Club and now as a fuel dock attendant at the Sandwich Marina.

I enjoy it!

It's a nice Cape Cod retirement gig.

My Return to Cuttyhunk

Back when I was still working at Freedom Boat Club, I liked to take full advantage of the gig.

One day when conditions were perfect, I borrowed one of the boats and left Kingman Marina in Cataumet, en route to my old stomping grounds of Cuttyhunk.

Cruising at a comfortable speed I arrived at the island in what seemed to be no time at all.

Amazingly, the boat behind me was John Paul Hunter's water taxi - the Seahorse!

John Paul Hunter, if you recall, is the man who was once the only student at Cuttyhunk's one room school house.

We met at the dock and reminisced.

Of course I had to re-visit Cuttyhunk's famous one-room schoolhouse.

I remembered how we filled that small schoolhouse with 125 middle schoolers on that special day some 31 years ago.

I then walked up Cuttyhunk's famous hill.

I could not help but reminisce about the time two decades ago when I walked this same hill with my then 3 year old daughter Katelyn crawling behind.

Two hours later I departed the island, and carefully explored the area of Robinson's Hole.

One must be careful and keep a close eye on your GPS chart when navigating the waters of Robinson's Hole, and around the Elizabeth Islands.

There are many rocks and swift currents to be aware of.

Be sure to also keep a close eye on the wind, especially the southwest wind which usually kicks up during the afternoon in the summer.

I also took a quick dip at West Beach which is always great.

I then cruised back by Bassetts Island and entered the harbor at Kingman Marina.

Kali, part of the Freedom Boat Club's dock staff, greeted me and asked about my day.

My response was that I had revisited my "Best Lesson". Kali appeared to be a little confused, but as always she did a nice job helping to dock the boat and secure the lines.

In conclusion, John Paul and my students of 1989 were exposed to extremes such as hands on and authentic learning. They will never forget the Cuttyhunk Exchange experience and neither will I.

Tight lines 🎣

-Jake