How a 105-foot schooner is teaching teens the Detroit River’s story

The Detroit River Scholars program is helping youth connect with the heritage of the river through hands-on experience on a schooner
The program aims to break down historic barriers for people of color
In addition to learning to sail, students collect data and learn about healthy ecosystems

On an unusually hot day in late June, a group of about 20 Detroit high schoolers boarded a 105-foot, three-masted tall ship and set sail along the Detroit River.

For some, it was their first time on a boat.

Many of those students left hoping it wouldn’t be their last.

The river’s cultural significance has historically been lost in the Detroit community, especially among young people. The international waterway has powered the auto industry and provided momentum for the passage of the Clean Water Act. It is the homeland of the Anishinaabe people and served as a crucial stretch of the Underground Railroad for enslaved people journeying to freedom in Canada.

Students aboard a sailboat pull on a rope together as part of a sailing lesson, with the Detroit River and a sunny sky in the background. — Agap’e Peters, 17, of Highland Park, left; Micaiah Cole, 14, of Detroit, center, and deckhand Grayson Plotner raise the sails during an outing on *Alliance*. (Ella Miller/Bridge Michigan)

For the sixth year in a row, University of Michigan’s Detroit River Story Lab is giving southeast Michigan youth a chance to connect the river’s heritage with their own, through hands-on, experiential learning programs.

Every summer, youth and classroom groups board Alliance, a schooner similar to the tall ships that sailed the Detroit River and Great Lakes in the 18th and 19th centuries.

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The program seeks to break down historic barriers that people of color in Detroit have faced when it comes to accessing the river’s waterway.

“Detroit has one of the largest populations of registered Black boaters in the world,” Jordan Irving, Detroit River Scholars program director, told her students on board. “The whole history of Black boating in Detroit really ends with all of us young people being able to have access to this waterway in a way that wasn’t allowed before.”

Students gathered around a table aboard a sailboat examine aquatic organisms and identification cards during a hands-on science lesson. — A group of students uses pipettes to transfer water from a plankton sample onto their slides for viewing under a microscope during an outing on Alliance. Joe Ramey, a Great Lakes Education intern with the Inland Seas Education Association, led the station in the boat’s cabin, teaching students about different types of plankton. (Ella Miller/Bridge Michigan)

Equipped with this knowledge, students leave the boat ready to invest in the future of the Detroit River as both a natural resource and a hub of community life.

“You can’t care about something that you don’t have a personal connection with,” said Chris Symons, education coordinator for Inland Seas Education Association (ISEA). “The rewarding part is seeing people get excited, seeing people connect to the water, and who knows what that’ll manifest.”

Symons and his crew from ISEA lead students in hoisting the sails, steering the ship and collecting data about water clarity and temperature. Students also study plankton samples and learn about healthy ecosystems.

People aboard a sailboat work together to handle a rope and lower a water-sampling device into a calm river under a partly cloudy sky. — Youth Leadership Council member Aniqa Usha, right, helps student Agap’e Peters, 17, of Highland Park, lower a Secchi disk into the water during an outing on Alliance. In groups, students learned how to use Secchi disks to measure the transparency of the water. (Ella Miller/Bridge Michigan)

“Part of our classroom is that we can’t just fire up an engine and go where we want to,” Symons said. “What is the wind doing? What’s the weather doing? What are the waves doing? You have to pay better attention to the world around you.”

Detroit River Story Lab also hosts weeklong, intensive boat-building workshops. At the end, students get to row skiffs they’ve crafted themselves.

Two people aboard a boat hold a weather instrument up to the sky as they measure atmospheric conditions beneath scattered clouds.

A student aboard a boat holds a clear jar of river water up to the light to examine its clarity, with the water and shoreline blurred in the background.

close-up shows a student examining a water sample under a microscope during a hands-on science activity.

A student holds a clipboard with a hand-drawn sketch of a boat and water while using colorful markers during an educational activity aboard a sailboat.

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At the heart of it all is the belief that the Detroit River has, for generations, been the birthplace of stories. And it continues to be, as local students discover their connection to the river.

“The river is health, it is wealth, it is food, it is comfort, it is home,” Symons said. “That’s the thread that connects us all. We are all here because of the river.”

And although some students set foot on a boat for the first time onboard Alliance, many leave wanting more. Symons has seen program participants choose to return to the ship as station leaders and deckhands after participating in a sail or a boat-building workshop.

A tall sailing ship is docked along the Detroit River as students and crew gather on and beside the vessel beneath the shade of large trees. — Detroit River Scholars students and staff exit Alliance after an afternoon on the ship as part of a Detroit River Story Lab program on the Detroit River, Monday, June 29, 2026. (Ella Miller/Bridge Michigan)

A large cargo ship passes on the Detroit River, framed beneath the rigging and furled sail of a tall sailing ship. — A cargo freighter passes by Alliance during a Detroit River Story Lab program on the Detroit River. (Ella Miller/Bridge Michigan)

A bright orange life ring labeled "ALLIANCE" hangs from the railing of a sailboat, with the Detroit River and a tree-lined shoreline in the background. — A life ring hangs from the rails of Alliance. (Ella Miller/Bridge Michigan)

Alliance has now taken over 120 groups out to sail the river. According to the Detroit River Story Lab’s website, over 70% of program participants rate their experience as “excellent.” Others have even gone on to discover careers in natural resources and the maritime industry, cementing their connection with the river and their investment in its future.

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