Narragansett launches Marine Professions CTE at high school with $250,000 state grant

The Narragansett School Department on Monday announced a new Marine Professions Career and Technical Education program at Narragansett High School after receiving a $250,000 grant from the Rhode Island Department of Education.

“We are very proud to be here tonight,” Superintendent Pete Cummings said as he introduced the program at the Town Council meeting. Assistant Principal and CTE director Connor McCluskey told the council the award came through a new state grant program. “In the beginning of the school year, the Rhode Island Department of Education established a new grant entitled the CTE for All,” McCluskey said.

The program, presenters said, is intended to prepare students for coastal and marine work in the state’s blue economy. Teachers AJ D’Angelo and Zach Sarowicz described two distinct pathways: a service pathway focused on vessel handling, maintenance and industry certifications, and a research pathway tied to fisheries and coastal science.

“We were very fortunate to receive $250,000 for this program. The state only awarded $2,000,000 in this round, so we’re very happy with that amount,” Sarowicz said. He and other presenters described a set of local industry partners who have agreed to provide training, shop space and internship opportunities.

Presenters named several partners who will support hands‑on training or classroom work: Fokeil (a local marine service business whose owner, Jonathan Mendez, offered shop space and Yamaha‑specific training), the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (which administered a recent boater‑safety exam and operates state research vessels), the Bluefin Tuna Collaborative, the American Boat and Yacht Council and the University of Rhode Island (URI). Sarowicz said industry partners have offered students work on research vessels and access to industry testing and credential programs.

School staff said the program already began a boater‑safety course this year; upperclassmen who took it earned lifetime boater‑safety cards. Presenters said students 16 and older can begin logging sea time toward U.S. Coast Guard captain licenses — a requirement that typically requires about 350 hours before applying for a license at age 18 — and that the program will give students an early head start on that requirement.

The service pathway will include progressive courses — boat safety, marine technology, boat handling and advanced service — and industry credentials that the presenters said should make students more immediately employable at graduation. The research pathway would pair students with URI and other research partners for courses such as URI’s “Food from the Sea” and for hands‑on fieldwork, including DNA sampling projects described by presenters.

Council members praised the program and encouraged staff to pursue university and non‑profit partnerships. Councilor Durkin referenced local family businesses and lifelong ties to the community while Councilor McNally and others welcomed the program’s potential to link high school training with local maritime employers.

The district said it expects to begin enrolling students in the program for the 2025–26 academic year and will return to the council with implementation details and enrollment numbers as those are finalized.