The Green Sanctuary and Adult Spiritual Enrichment Committees sponsored a field trip to Carteret Community College to tour the Hospitality and Culinary Arts Center, MARTEC Boat Building Facility, and the Aquaculture Building. It was an amazing experience; the college offers so much to our community from summer camps for Middle School students to adult education. Throughout the tour, we learned about the important partnerships the community college has with local organizations as well as an exchange program to France.

We toured the three state-of-the-art teaching kitchens as well as the hospitality area. In one kitchen, campers from the Boys and Girls Club were busy making cupcakes. Another kitchen was set up for a chicken stir fry lesson for the campers.

Then we toured the Boat Building Facility, seeing different stages of boats being constructed, boat motors being worked on, and classrooms used for training.

At the Aquaculture Center, we were able to observe fish being bred for both educational and commercial purposes, elaborate brine tanks, and clams and oysters in their various stages of growth.

Lastly, we viewed the horticulture building that not only teaches about horticulture but also about irrigation and landscaping.

It was an enlightening experience to learn about what our community college has to offer in a setting that enriches our environment and local economy while building partnerships with local nonprofit and for-profit organizations.