Having twins graduating together from Mass Maritime on 22 June 2019 is too remarkable a SCAA Family story to be untold. When we first heard of this very rare event, we approached Mike Jarvis at SCAA member company Northstar Marine, to share the experience. Mike and his wife Melissa collaborated on documenting the event with the following Family story leading up to the dual graduation:
From the time the tops of their heads reached the desk where the marine radio sat, ready to disrupt life at the drop of a sailor’s hat, the three Jarvis kids knew that “pan-pan, pan-pan, pan-pan” meant someone somewhere needed assistance. Racing around the floors in slippery socks, they belted out the words like a Barney song while their dad hit the ground running.
That was in the early days, back when dad, Mike, owned Dependable Marine Services. In grade school at the time, they’d often meet him at the dock in Gloucester City, NJ, for a little family time. One of their earliest memories of those years was sharing a pizza on board his 25-foot Parker when the Philadelphia Police hopped on board to catch a car thief who’d jumped into the Delaware River. As mom ushered the three kids below deck, they watched in fascination as the bad guy was pulled onboard.
Two of the three kids were hooked, especially when their dad sold his franchise to take a job with a worldwide marine salvage company and started coming home with even better stories.
Sam knew he wanted to attend a maritime academy, and chose Massachusetts Maritime on the Cape Cod Canal. But it wasn’t all smooth sailing. His twin, McKenna, had received a D1 crew scholarship to the University of Tulsa. After a disappointing year where she realized that the school itself held no allure for her, she transferred to Suffolk University in Boston. Still, she was unable to find a career path that held her interest. Finally, after two years of searching for the perfect college, she found herself at Massachusetts Maritime with her twin brother.
Ironically, just when his sister arrived on campus, Sam was experiencing doubts for the first time about his choice of majors. He’d realized that he just wasn’t happy in a wheelhouse. “I dropped out of Mass. Maritime, and I’m going to be a Navy Seal”, he announced to his very surprised audience at the family’s Christmas vacation that year. What followed next was a two month stint in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, where his dad got him a job cleaning out bilges on ships as he trained for the Navy Buds. Cleaning out bilges is a great way for someone to realize the value of a college degree, and before long he was calling to say he had re-enrolled in school.
A chance dinner with his parents solidified his future. As it happens, that evening his parents were dining with a friend named Nick Sloane, who a few years prior had salvaged a little-known ship called the Costa Concordia. Over wine, Nick convinced Sam that marine engineering was the way to go.
Fast forward two years, and the twins have graduated on June 22nd. After the twists and turns their individual paths took, they ended up together after all, both successfully passing the grueling licensing tests of their respective majors.
McKenna probably has more sea time than most of her instructors. Throughout their college careers, all three Jarvis kids have flown to various destinations to work with their dad in the industry. Mike’s youngest daughter Dylan worked in the Coast Guard operations center in the U.S. Virgin Islands after hurricanes Maria and Irma. The twins, Sam and McKenna, have worked in Fort Lauderdale, taken a tug boat to Chile, and worked in China, Alaska, and the Caribbean.
McKenna will be working with Weeks Marine in their towing division and Sam will be working for Northstar Marine and Environmental as an engineer on Northstar’s new DP 2 fast crew supply vessel.
From the time the tops of their heads reached the desk where the marine radio sat, ready to disrupt life at the drop of a sailor’s hat, the three Jarvis kids knew that “pan-pan, pan-pan, pan-pan” meant someone somewhere needed assistance. Racing around the floors in slippery socks, they belted out the words like a Barney song while their dad hit the ground running.
That was in the early days, back when dad, Mike, owned Dependable Marine Services. In grade school at the time, they’d often meet him at the dock in Gloucester City, NJ, for a little family time. One of their earliest memories of those years was sharing a pizza on board his 25-foot Parker when the Philadelphia Police hopped on board to catch a car thief who’d jumped into the Delaware River. As mom ushered the three kids below deck, they watched in fascination as the bad guy was pulled onboard.
Two of the three kids were hooked, especially when their dad sold his franchise to take a job with a worldwide marine salvage company and started coming home with even better stories.
Sam knew he wanted to attend a maritime academy, and chose Massachusetts Maritime on the Cape Cod Canal. But it wasn’t all smooth sailing. His twin, McKenna, had received a D1 crew scholarship to the University of Tulsa. After a disappointing year where she realized that the school itself held no allure for her, she transferred to Suffolk University in Boston. Still, she was unable to find a career path that held her interest. Finally, after two years of searching for the perfect college, she found herself at Massachusetts Maritime with her twin brother.
Ironically, just when his sister arrived on campus, Sam was experiencing doubts for the first time about his choice of majors. He’d realized that he just wasn’t happy in a wheelhouse. “I dropped out of Mass. Maritime, and I’m going to be a Navy Seal”, he announced to his very surprised audience at the family’s Christmas vacation that year. What followed next was a two month stint in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, where his dad got him a job cleaning out bilges on ships as he trained for the Navy Buds. Cleaning out bilges is a great way for someone to realize the value of a college degree, and before long he was calling to say he had re-enrolled in school.
A chance dinner with his parents solidified his future. As it happens, that evening his parents were dining with a friend named Nick Sloane, who a few years prior had salvaged a little-known ship called the Costa Concordia. Over wine, Nick convinced Sam that marine engineering was the way to go.
Fast forward two years, and the twins have graduated on June 22nd. After the twists and turns their individual paths took, they ended up together after all, both successfully passing the grueling licensing tests of their respective majors.
McKenna probably has more sea time than most of her instructors. Throughout their college careers, all three Jarvis kids have flown to various destinations to work with their dad in the industry. Mike’s youngest daughter Dylan worked in the Coast Guard operations center in the U.S. Virgin Islands after hurricanes Maria and Irma. The twins, Sam and McKenna, have worked in Fort Lauderdale, taken a tug boat to Chile, and worked in China, Alaska, and the Caribbean.
McKenna will be working with Weeks Marine in their towing division and Sam will be working for Northstar Marine and Environmental as an engineer on Northstar’s new DP 2 fast crew supply vessel.
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