From the desk of Dawn Santamaria
Sisters Under Sail is a program born from the heart… and from life experience.
Even though I’ve lived in New Jersey for nearly 26 years, I still consider myself a mid-westerner. I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and attended Saint Mary’s College, an all-female school across the street from Notre Dame. My Saint Mary’s experience first taught me to appreciate other young women for their brilliance; for their hunger to make a difference in the world and the rewards of true friendship.
As a working mother of four daughters ranging in age from 24 to 10, you could say my belief in the power of the “sisterhood” has become the fiber of my soul.
In 1999, my husband decided to follow his dream. He wanted to become a Schooner-man. So we bought a 118-foot tall ship. I must admit, I was a bit envious that he was so clearly able to identify his dream. At that point in time, my kids were still young; I was busy with their little lives and had no idea, nor the time, to contemplate what my dreams were.
As fate would have it, owning the Unicorn has been the vehicle to finding my own dream. A dream for myself that I never knew I had and a mother’s dreams come true for her daughters.
My own girls have been a part of our family business for 9 years. They’ve served aboard as trainees, deckhands, education coordinators, represented us in Washington DC on Capitol Hill, provided hours of administrative assistance and public deck tours of their ship. Through the years, I have watched them develop a sense of self, pride in their accomplishments, ability to present themselves well, tolerance of others, appreciation of the sea and the natural beauty around us, responsibility to others and a keen ability to think outside the box….not to limit their abilities. What more could a mother ask for her children.
It was through my daughters experiences that I decided to initiate a leadership program designed exclusively for teenage girls. I wanted to provide other girls the same opportunity to sail a tall ship in a safe learning environment where they could push themselves to try new things they had never done before. I wanted to take their shipboard experience at sea and connect the dots to how it translates to real-life lessons and making good choices.
As such, in 2005 Sisters Under Sail was founded as a non-profit,
501(c)3 corporation. Since inception, we’ve put aboard over 150 girls from all over the country and Canada. We enroll girls much like my daughters as well as serve under-represented teens who need and deserve leadership opportunities and support.
By design, we are the only tall ship in the world that sails with an all-female, college educated professional crew. We want to empower young girls and give them a chance to see what women can do together when focused on a common goal.
I promise you, this is a powerful experiential learning program that will remain with your daughter for years to come.
Stay on course.
Dawn Santamaria
Founder & Executive Director