Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)

Setting sail for the seven seas 

June 26, 2002
Section: LOCAL NEWS
Page: B1 

By    Sandy Quadros Bowles
 

NORTHBORO -- Resident Kenneth Gross completed four years at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in shipshape fashion.

Mr. Gross, 21, a 1998 graduate of Algonquin Regional High School, was valedictorian of his graduating class. He achieved a grade point average of 3.94 out of a possible 4.0. ``I made sure I learned what I needed to know,'' he said.

Massachusetts Maritime Academy, in Bourne, is the nation's oldest coed maritime college. Course work includes traveling on a training ship that students run under professional supervision.

Students graduate with a bachelor of science degree in marine-related subjects, a merchant marine officer's license and, in some cases, a naval officer's commission.

Mr. Gross signed up with a naval officer program two years ago. The program requires that students maintain a 3.5 grade point average or higher.

Next month, Mr. Gross will attend officer candidate school in Pensacola, Fla. After two to three years of schooling, he will spend two years on a Navy nuclear submarine.

He chose to attend Massachusetts Maritime Academy because the course offerings combined three of his major interests: engineering, boating and the water.

The engineering portion of the course work appealed to the tinkerer in him.

``I've always been interested in mechanical stuff, taking things apart'' and seeing how they work, he said.

This was particularly evident during his childhood Christmases, he said. He would take his new toys apart to see how they worked, but was often unable to put them together again.

He no longer has that problem. ``Now I can put whole engines together,'' he said, chuckling.

He has loved sailing since he was 10, when he began sailing at the Regatta Point Community Sailing program in Worcester. He began teaching sailing there at 15, which was his ``first real job.''

He worked there five years and eventually became assistant manager.

He has also loved swimming since childhood, he said.

All of these interests made the academy ``a good fit,'' he said.

During his four years at Massachusetts Maritime, he went to sea four times, three times on the academy's ship and once on an actual working ship. Three of the trips were to the Caribbean and the fourth to Japan and Indonesia.

Spending two months at sea in close quarters forged close friendships with his classmates, he said. He hopes these bonds will last well past graduation, he said.

``I met a lot of good people and had a lot of good times,'' he said.

Now that he has his sea legs, he is looking forward to his years with the Navy and may eventually pursue a naval career.

Whatever his future, he is grateful that he chose to attend the academy. The school challenges its students, he said, with its regimented, military style. But the reward comes in a future filled with varied job options, he said.

``It's a tough school,'' he said. ``But in the end, it's definitely worth it.''