nothin Yellow Submarine Floats Kids’ Boats | New Haven Independent

Yellow Submarine
Floats Kids” Boats

Alan Winick and his yellow submarine

Part scientist, part life coach, and part comedian, Alan Winick spent Saturday afternoon speaking with kindergarteners and elementary school students about his one-man yellow submarine” and the childhood dreams that led him to build it.

Exploring concepts like buoyancy and displacement, Winick led 40 students from New Haven Reads, the Ashmun Street tutoring and book-donation storefront, in hands-on science projects while simultaneously recounting the story of his little submarine.

Water moves from dat place to dis place, that’s why they call it displacement’!” Winick announced, as he led the students in building Cartesian divers. While the divers and the jokes were a hit with the crowd, fidgeting with anticipation, the students were most excited for their chance to step in to Winick’s submarine, The Explorer.

For 35 years Winick dreamed about exploring the deep in his own submarine. He finally lived out his childhood fantasies in 1998 with the construction of the little yellow vehicle, the second smallest submarine in the world. While he currently serves as the director of education at the Discovery Museum of in Bridgeport, Winick spends much of his time on the road bringing his submarine and his inspirational stories to schoolkids. Winick spoke to students about the value of mistakes and the importance of persistence in achieving one’s dreams.

I hope you learned all that science stuff today, but more important I hoped you learn that just like you I was just a 12-year-old kid who made his dream come true. And maybe its not a submarine you want to make, but I’m here to tell you that if you don’t give up, you can make your dream come true too,” said the deep sea explorer.

Sloan Santiago constructing a Cartesian diver.

Santiago Sloan (pictured constructing his Cartesian diver) dreams of becoming a winter Olympian some day, he said to Winick.

With over 400 student tutees, and hundreds more on the waiting list, New Haven Reads is in need of tutors to fill the high demand, said Chris Alexander, who runs the organization. New Haven Reads is especially eager to bring in permanent residents of the city into the program and mentors need to commit only one hour a week, said Alexander.

Santiago Sloan has met with his tutors two times a week for almost two years. He said he loves New Haven Reads. So does his mother, Magalis Martinez.

The program has been an incredible supplementary resource for us. They’ve really helped us get his reading levels up and above his grade level. They also make sure to choose tutors who align interests with the kids and align with a young person’s needs,” said Martinez.

His mother gave him the choice to stop going after his reading levels improved dramatically. Santiago Sloan decided he wanted to stick with it. He can’t get enough of it.

Sometimes I’m like, Mom, when do I go to New Haven Reads again?’ And she’ll be like, Not til Tuesday, Santiago’. And then I have to wait for Tuesday.”

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