While many students come to college seeking direction in their lives, others have a pretty good idea of where their course is headed.
The president of Old Dominion University’s Student Propeller Club, Shane Athey-Strayer, has always had an affinity for the water and following a path into maritime operations happened naturally.
“I've always been a swimmer. I love the water and swimming is what got me into maritime,” he said, explaining that because of his involvement with competitive swimming, he was on the radar of maritime academies and started receiving recruitment material in high school.
The Propeller Club is a nonprofit professional organization that supports the national maritime community and promotes waterborne commerce. Local clubs are called Ports and there are 52 Port chapters and 16 student Port clubs in the country. There are also international chapters in almost 30 foreign cities.
While Old Dominion University’s Student Propeller Club has a robust roster, only a handful of students are currently active due to the negative impact COVID had on student clubs. This is likely to change as the University’s School of Supply Chain, Logistics and Maritime Operations (SLCMO) begins to offer interdisciplinary maritime supply chain undergraduate and graduate degrees as well as graduate certificates to meet the demand for a skilled supply chain and logistics workforce.
Elspeth McMahon, Old Dominion’s associate vice president for maritime initiatives, helped shepherd the new school to fruition, as well as other maritime-related programs, events and opportunities. She said this club is an important way for ODU students to learn about the regional blue economy.
“Having an on-campus ODU Student Propeller Club is crucial for connecting our students to the local maritime industry. It provides networking and mentorship opportunities that can lead and inspire students of all majors to internships and careers,” she said. “This club provides exciting industry site visits and access to significant events such as International Maritime Day while providing an outlet for like-minded students to connect and encourage each other in maritime pursuits."
Athey-Strayer, who will graduate in the spring with a degree in maritime and supply chain management, knew he wanted to pursue a career on the water after visiting a maritime academy in high school.
“I toured the Maine training ship. It was just so cool to see these giant vessels, which are just marvels of human ingenuity and technology that carry cargo and people across the seas,” the Richmond native said.
“Then, I looked at ODU which is in the center of a lot of maritime activities,” he said. “It has shipbuilding and repair companies nearby and they are dredging the harbor to make it one of the deepest on the East Coast. So, the area’s really expanding and the industry is growing.”
Athey-Strayer said Old Dominion University offers great maritime-related opportunities through work-study programs and internships. Last year he worked at the Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) as a civil engineer intern. He also had an internship with Givens Transportation Solutions, working in the warehouse where he learned how cargo shipments are managed after they arrive in port.
This past summer, he interned at Huntington Ingalls Industries Newport News Shipbuilding (HII-NNS) where he worked in the supply chain department as a procurement specialist, buying materials for the shipyard. Along with taking a ship building class, he attended meetings, shadowed a supervisor and toured the facilities.
While he considered careers in engineering and modeling and simulation, he now hopes to land a position in procurement and maritime logistics.
“I like seeing the ships come in. I go down to the waterfront and watch them come in with my own little tracker. I’m thinking, ‘What needs to get here, what needs to get there?’ Planning has always been my expertise. I love to plan. I love to find things out,” he said. “I think, ‘What are our obstacles? What are people's deadlines? We need to get where? What are our tasks, our goals and our timeframes?’”
He said the Port of Norfolk’s Propeller Club was particularly gracious to sponsor ODU’s Student Propeller Club to attend National Maritime Day, which was held onboard the U.S.S. Wisconsin.
For that event, his job was to explain to classmates that the Student Propeller Club was one of the University’s best kept secrets because of the opportunities it offers to make connections throughout the industry.
In addition to working with McMahon and professor Ricardo Ungo, the director of ODU’s Maritime, Ports & Logistics Institute and the student club’s faculty advisor, Athey-Strayer has communicated with Deborah Waters, who just completed a 10-year term as chair of the operations and infrastructure committee at the Virginia Port Authority and is the current president of SCLMO’s Industry Advisory Council.
He said they are all focused on ensuring that interdisciplinary classroom learning is supplemented with practical, hands-on experience.
“They are interested in getting industry folks into the classroom and they’re interested in getting the students into real-world work situations,” he said.
Camille Crofton Cherry, marketing director of the Portsmouth-based marine contractor CROFTON and the president of The Port of Norfolk Propeller Club, recently joined the SLCMO’s Industry Advisory Council.
She said The Port’s club is helping ODU’s Student Propeller Club with programming, serving as a resource to connect the members to the industry to grow their professional network.
“We also offer student sponsorships for our events like mixers and the special National Maritime Day gathering in May,” Cherry said. “If a student has a question about a company or industry, our club can connect them to the right person. We’re even talking about doing a resume workshop and reaching out to maritime companies to see if their human resources departments can lend a hand.”
In April, McMahon led ODU’s second annual Maritime Conference, drawing hundreds of industry experts as well as ODU students, faculty, staff, and local community members to learn about the latest research and projections for the blue economy. The distinguished guest speaker was Maritime Administrator Admiral Ann Phillips. Athey-Strayer said events like that are excellent ways for students to see what’s going on in the field.
“We heard from speakers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, someone from the United Kingdom talked about offshore wind, and we had a Navy captain talk about war games and how they're being implemented,” he said. “It was a great time for students to get involved and start networking and looking for possible job opportunities.”
To learn more about ODU’s Student Propeller Club, visit their website. For maritime related information and events at ODU including next spring’s Maritime Conference, visit odu.edu/maritime.