Schoolship Alumni Association

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n May of 1997 two alumni, Andy Paulik and Ron Schoof, decided to try and get together all the former students of the Schoolship and start an Alumni Association. In October 1997 the Alumni Association got underway and member enrollment commenced.

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The Alumni Association has grown steadily over the years. In October 1998 the Association held its first reunion aboard the SS JOHN W. BROWN in Baltimore. The attendees at that reunion covered the range of years from 1943 to 1975. Alumni reunions are held nearly every year, most of them on board the BROWN.

The JOHN W. BROWN Alumni Association is open to all students and instructors who were aboard during the period 1946 to 1983, and to all students who attended Metropolitan Vocational High School in the maritime program prior to the city obtaining the JOHN W. BROWN from the Maritime Administration. Graduation is not a prerequisite of alumni membership, as many of the BROWN's students quit school to go to sea before they graduated.

The primary goal of the Schoolship Alunini Association is to aid in the future preservation of the JOHN W. BROWN. It is believed that many of the alumni have long since left New York and do not know of the existence of the JOHN W. BROWN as a living memorial to the merchant marine. The Alumni Association helps to get the word out that the BROWN is still alive and is now steaming out of Baltimore.

Other goals of the Alumni Association are to show something about the BROWN's history as a schoolship, and the role she played in preparing young men for seagoing careers in the merchant marine, Navy and Coast Guard. The Alumni Association also serves as a clearinghouse for information about the BROWN's schoolship years and the students who were aboard. The Schoolship JOHN W. BROWN was unique in that it was the only floating maritime high school in the country.

The BROWN was part of the maritime training history of New York City that extended back to the turn of the century. Prior to the BROWN was the ferryboat BROOKLYN and before that a sailing ship, the ST. MARYS. Numerous newspaper stories and magazine articles have been written about the JOHN W. BROWN over the years, and now they are being collected and will be available for inspection. The Alumni Association also collects yearbooks and class lists of all the schoolship years and is in the process of putting together a student database.

The search for alumni is ongoing. If you are interested in becoming a member of the Alumni Association all you need is a love for the BROWN or a curiosity about what ever happened to some of your old classmates.

For additional Alumni Association please contact Bill Tellefsen at the following address.

Bill Tellefsen
4998 Amboy Road
Staten Island, N.Y. 10312-4834
Phone: 718-317-7243
e-mail: Wtell2@aol.com

Or you can e-mail us at:
john.w.brown@usa.net
For automatic routing, please use the word
ALUMNI
in the subject of the e-mail.

The JWB Alumni Website