New facility boosting outreach at MSU Sailing Center

HASLETT – Ken Warshaw is excited about the newly renovated Michigan State University Sailing Center for plenty of reasons.

The fact that it has bathrooms, unlike its predecessor, isn’t the least of them.

The original MSU Sailing Center was built by the MSU Sailing Club in the 1940s. In 1973, Jack Breslin donated two garages to replace the original building. Twenty-four years later, the entire center was donated to the university.

MSU unveiled a new facility earlier this spring to replace the existing structure, which adds class and office spaces as well as full utilities, said Warshaw, a sports facility professional with MSU’s department of Recreational Sports and Fitness Services.

The center allows summer visitors to rent various watercraft as well as taking lessons on sailing and paddle boarding. Residents can purchase seasonal, monthly, or weekly memberships.

Members of the MSU Sailing Club also use the center, as do students who participate in the university’s Upward Bound program.

Aside from bathrooms, Warshaw said he’s excited for the additional opportunities for students interested in learning math and science on the shores of Lake Lansing.

The total cost of the new facility was about $95,000, said Rick McNeil, director of Recreational Sports and Fitness Services.

The updates are expected to expand the center’s educational opportunities, particularly for students in MSU’s Upward Bound program. More than 60 high school students from the Lansing School District visited the center this summer for lessons ranging from freshwater ecology to the physics of sailing, said Glenda Hammond, Upward Bound’s director.

“We’re very pleased with the partnership,” Hammond said. Getting students interested in STEM topics remains one of the top goals of the partnership, she added.

During the summer, students in grades 10 to 12 visited a number of times, Hammond said. On site, students are able to see invasive species such as zebra mussels up close and learn about their impact on local waterways. The opportunity to sit in the sun, rather than a classroom, is well-received, Hammond added.

The idea of pairing Upward Bound and the sailing center began about seven years ago with a donation from Penny Wali, a former MSU employee. After attending a sailing lesson with her family, Wali was overcome with the desire to give Lansing students an opportunity they otherwise might not have.

She recalled some students were afraid to even step into the water when they first arrived. The solution to that fear was exposure, Wali said.

“The center is an MSU jewel,” she said, noting many today still don’t know the center even exists.

As student participation has grown in recent years, Wali continues to see the positive benefits learning about sailing has on students. Her son, now an engineer at Ford, still talks about his time spent cruising Lake Lansing’s surface, Wali said.

More than just new office and class spaces, the updates help the center become more of a resource for the adjacent community, said Warshaw.

In addition to hosting Upward Bound students, the center also rents kayaks, canoes and paddle boards to the public. Lessons on sailing and paddle boarding are also a common reason locals make the trip out to the center, Warshaw said.

Warshaw also leads numerous educational lessons at the center, and said he is continually amazed by the reception.

“When students come out here, they play while learning and soak up information like a sponge,” Warshaw said. The center has also partnered with a number of area retailers, some of whom keep a few of their boats docked on-site. This allows staff to take larger groups onto the lake for lessons, Warshaw said. The number of questions he gets once students hit the water is mind-boggling, he added.

Some 20 employees work at the center, including a number of current MSU undergraduate and graduate students. Members of the MSU Sailing Club also regularly use the facilities.

The MSU Sailing Center is open May to August seven days a week, and six days a week through September. More information on the center, including rental rates, can be found online at msusailing.com.

Contact RJ Wolcott at (517) 377-1026 or rwolcott@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @wolcottr.