Many Drop Anchor At Piney Point, Maryland (NAPSA)—In a stormy job market, many men and women are dropping anchor in Piney Point, Maryland and signing up to learn to be a merchant mariner. Piney Point is home to the Paul Hall Center for Maritime Training and Education, a school that offers the most U.S. _ Coast Guard-approved courses of any maritime school in the nation. The Seafarers International Union (SIU)-affiliated Paul Hall Center is the largest training facility for deep-sea merchant seafarers and inland waterways boat- men in the United States. Today, the Paul Hall Center has grown and adapted, meeting the needs of individual students and ship operators who, in turn, help fulfill the manpower requirements of the U.S. Merchant Marine. The Paul Hall Center has consistently been at the forefront of state-of-theart, maritime-specific training, including simulators, firefighting, oil spill prevention, shipboard computers, training record books, refrigeration...and thelist goes on. Write Your Own Ticket After graduating from the school, mariners can write their own ticket in the Merchant Marine. They could sail forever in an entry rating (ordinary seaman, wiper, steward assistant) or keep upgrading all the way to captain. There are many job opportunities for graduates of the maritime training center, along with an opportu- nity to makea living at sea. The point is that by entering the apprentice program, stu- dents have an opportunity to make a living at sea. The Paul Hall Center accepts students with many different educational backgrounds. College Degree Programs In the school’s 41 years of mar- itime training (1967-2008), 22,000 apprentices have completed the program and 238,000 training certificates have been issued for deck, engine, steward and safety courses. In addition, two college degree programs in nautical science and engineering have been approved by the state of Maryland. To learn more about current openings at this maritime training center, visit www.seafarers.org/phce.
