Waves of Knowledge

The Weweantic River is an unassuming, 17-mile-long river in southeastern Massachusetts. Its name, Wampanoag for “crooked,” is an apt description of its shape. The Weweantic begins in the wetlands of Carver, where its watershed touches many cranberry bogs, and weaves south through swampy birch and maple forests before draining into Buzzards Bay. On this unheralded little river, Tabor’s world-class marine science program flashed to life over half a century ago.

Following the Second World War, government and private sector funds poured into ocean research. While progress came quickly, one problem was increasingly clear to the scientific community: they were running out of scientists. In 1960, the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography published a report that confirmed as much. The number of high-achieving students preparing for careers in oceanography, the report concluded, was insufficient to meet future demand for the field.

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI), one of the most renowned laboratories in the world, proposed a solution. What if high school students could partner with WHOI scientists to conduct research, learn about oceanography, and, just maybe, be inspired to pursue it as a profession? The National Science Foundation thought this was a promising idea and funded the initiative with a grant. The resulting program, the Independent Secondary Schools’ Cooperative Effort in Oceanography (ISSCEO), was launched in 1961.

Tabor, along with St. George’s School and Moses Brown School, was one of three schools initially chosen for the partnership. Headmaster James Wickenden had studied biology in college. In the summer of 1929, he received a scholarship to conduct research at WHOI. Suffice to say, he was a strong supporter of the ISSCEO. 

The program had two parts. The first was a monthly lecture series. Students from all of the schools would meet, usually at Tabor due to its central location, and marine biologists from WHOI would speak on a range of topics such as ocean floor volcanoes and cloud physics. The second component was a research project. Each school, in consultation with WHOI, designed its own study that required extensive fieldwork. At the end of the year, the students published a report and presented their findings at a conference in Woods Hole.

For their first project, Tabor’s oceanographers surveyed the Weweantic River. “This river has many peculiar traits,” a writer for The Log explained in 1962, citing 
the river’s estuary ecosystems and microorganism populations. The students established seven observation posts along the river, from which they tracked salt content, light concentration, and other key metrics. They relished the time outdoors  and gained valuable field experience while learning how to use lab-grade equipment. The program started small; there were only three students. As word spread about the fun and fascinating work they were doing, applications swelled for the following school year. 

By 1964, the ISSCEO was “one of the most active and respected extra-curricular activities in the school,” according to its yearbook page. As the size of the group increased, so did the scope of the research. Having completed a successful survey of the Weweantic, Tabor’s researchers turned their attention to a body of water that was even closer to home. 

Sippican Harbor is a natural laboratory for the budding oceanographer.

Its diverse population of zooplankton and phytoplankton (small aquatic animals and plants, respectively) offers countless research opportunities. As part of their first survey of Sippican Harbor, the ISSCEO students recorded a number of readings—including oxygen, chlorophyll, and phosphate concentrations—in an effort to identify correlations between the chemical and physical properties of the water.

The continued growth of the oceanography program elicited more support from the local scientific community. In 1970, the Massachusetts Audubon Society lent Tabor a 40-foot lobster boat so the student-scientists could extend their research to the outer harbor. “The loan of the boat has greatly enhanced the program,” a Log writer stated, by allowing for the testing of benthic organisms in Buzzards Bay. Shortly thereafter, the program acquired its first dedicated boat, Helianthus, later renamed Grand Turk. In 1976, it underwent extensive alterations to convert the cabin into a laboratory.

Although oceanography was still considered an extracurricular club, there was no denying its academic momentum. As part of Tabor’s 1970 Master Plan, the trustees expressed a desire to build a laboratory “located at the water for field work.” By the end of the decade, oceanography was an official class. More courses were added and experienced faculty were recruited to grow the marine science program. An overview from the 1981 yearbook highlights how the subject tapped into the school’s early environmental consciousness: “Oceanography at Tabor is not only a study of the ocean, it is an appreciation for, and a willingness to solve, the man-made problems of this century.”

The construction of the Schaefer Oceanology Laboratory in 1995 achieved the goal from the 1970 Master Plan. Built to the south of Lillard Hall on the marshy shore of Sippican Harbor, the Schaefer Lab provided a dynamic research setting that created opportunities for new projects. In 1999, for example, students partnered with the Town of Marion to seed an oyster farm. “This fall, a dozen aquaculture cages containing tens of thousands of oysters were submerged between Hoyt dock and the crew dock,” former Jaeger Chair in Marine Science Sue Nourse wrote in Tabor Today. 

It was Nourse, building on the ecological work of her longtime science department colleague Duane Minton, who spearheaded an initiative that would further distinguish Tabor’s oceanography program. Marine biologists in the U.S. and British Virgin Islands had become increasingly alarmed by the decline of the coral reef population. Elkhorn, an important building coral, had been decimated by disease, storms, and human interaction. In 1998, Nourse received a Toyota Science Grant for a project to build artificial coral reefs. Collaborating with ceramics teacher Bob Mogilnicki ’76, Nourse worked with students to construct and submerge these reefs.

In the winter of 1999, Tabor students traveled to St. Thomas to help scientists from the National Park Service and United States Geological Survey explore and document the coral. Having taken a special class on coral reef ecology the previous fall, they were well prepared to contribute to the research. Their base of operations was the SSV Tabor Boy. “Not only did the students learn marine science with real-life applications,” noted a subsequent article in Tabor Today, “but also each group had to learn how to sail the SSV Tabor Boy and be a part of a close-knit team.”

More than 20 years later, the Caribbean Studies Program, later known as the REEF Program, has evolved into a signature Tabor offering. The current program, called Coral Reef Restoration in the Bahamas, started in 2019 as a partnership with the Gerace Research Center. Thanks in part to the work of Tabor students, Elkhorn coral is now protected under the Endangered Species Act. The program’s enduring success demonstrates the value of fieldwork, a longstanding tenet of Tabor’s approach to science.

“When you’re in labs in school, you’re repeating experiments that other people have done before,” Jaeger Chair in Marine Science Dr. John Crosby told The Log in 2016. “In the Caribbean, students are able to participate in real, important scientific research that nobody has ever done.” 

The Marine and Nautical Science (MANS) Center, completed in 2005, further enhanced the school’s commitment to providing students with real research experience. An unrivaled facility, it houses the Schaefer Wet Lab and features state-of-the-art technology like the ability to replicate harbor conditions by pumping, filtering, and storing seawater. Having a flagship building like the MANS Center has allowed Tabor to offer specialized courses such as ichthyology and aquaculture while empowering students who are interested in pursuing independent projects.

Ongoing partnerships with leading research centers like WHOI and the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) have led to novel opportunities. Tabor students have had summer internships at the MBL, coveted positions typically reserved for graduate students. During the school year, students have participated in the MBL’s High School Science Discovery Program, which is like a modern iteration of the ISSCEO. In one recent project, Tabor students worked with world-class scientists on the genome editing of aquatic and marine organisms.

Tabor’s emergence as a leader in marine science education is a foundational part of its history. In 1916, Headmaster Walter Lillard arrived with a vision to transform the school by creating programs that embraced its proximity to the sea. By introducing marine science into the curriculum, Wickenden, Lillard’s successor, helped turn this vision into an inspired reality. As Tabor approaches its 150th anniversary, the intertwining of its seaside location with unparalleled marine and nautical science offerings has become a defining aspect of the school’s identity as the School by the Sea.