Lynzee Crouse (‘26), a senior at Mead High, has a pretty typical schedule. She’s involved in Orchestra, Girl Scouts, and, from what meets the eye, appears a seemingly average student.
Lynzee has stories to tell though.
Picture the standard junior year: taking personal finance, finally having more room in your schedule for off blocks and electives, maybe even taking some AP courses, and maybe getting your first job. For Lynzee, it turned out to be so much more.
A Facebook ad started it all.
Lynzee’s mom saw an ad for a school called A+ World Academy. She recalls her mom describing this opportunity to travel the Atlantic Ocean, and Lynzee said she wanted to do it too. Her mom thought she was kidding.
She was serious though, stating, “I was like, I want to do that, and then, I did it.”
Lynzee was now committed to a year of sailing over the Atlantic Ocean, with no boating experience. This wasn’t crazy for Lynzee as she would describe herself as outgoing. But as any person could imagine, it wasn’t easy.
She said, “It was a little hard, because you’re going to a different country and you don’t know any of the people.” But Lynzee wasn’t alone in this situation.
“Everyone on the ship also didn’t know any of the people [but], we just met each other all together. So then it was fine.”
The large room shared by students, was both their living quarters and their classroom. With one half wall and curtains separating a boys and girls side when it was time to sleep.
She described the bonds with her classmates were strengthened by sharing the room.
Groups of students were placed together to complete different jobs each night, her “Watch.”
Lynzee felt particularly close to these peers.
In her watch there were about 11 people; together, they completed day and night shifts of steering, keeping lookout and more jobs. Night shifts involved being woken up at midnight and, as Lynzee said, “You’re crossing the Atlantic Ocean, and you’re on the midnight to two shift with the same 11 people, you get really close.”
Without any WiFi out on the vast Atlantic, they also had to entertain themselves.
Lynzee’s fondest memory is watch wars, a series of competitions they participated in during day and night shifts.
Throughout watch wars, their watch worked together “to do Morse code reading and mental competitions at night and during the day physical competitions.”
They also played tug-of-war as one of those physical games. They would play for so long that their hands would start to bleed before either team gave up.
Students even participated in a dance battle where Lynzee’s Watch danced to “All the Single Ladies” while they comedically dressed up.
On the boat they sailed around stopping at different ports around the Atlantic, meeting people and seeing local things that involved their lessons.
Lynzee’s favorite location they visited was Cape Verde in Africa which is “the last port that everyone goes to before crossing the Atlantic Ocean.”
She said they “were there for Christmas, and did trash cleaning, swimming with turtles, [and] tour[ing] the town” and she remembers that “all the people were so nice.”
Lynzee felt that she wanted something more out of life and felt stuck. She viewed this trip as a way to experience something new.
She said that she “just felt very trapped” and added that she thought to herself, “I’m never going to do anything” which prompted to ask her parents if she could “just go”.
Lynzee, a girl who once had felt stuck in Mead, was able to embark on a life changing experience.
She describes how she saw her and the class change, finding themselves throughout the extreme conditions.
She said that in someone’s hometown they can feel “like [they’re] being who [they] should be,” but, that on the boat, you have more control of your own life and personality.
This isn’t the end of Lynzee’s journey though.
Instead, it’s only just the beginning. She plans to go to college to study sociology and environmental science. She wants to continue to travel, specifically with her friends, to experience and live in the moment.
As she continues on, she tries to live by the motto she had written down in her journal on the boat: “Do more than just exist.”
Lynzee is back at Mead High School for her senior year, and who might have been a pretty average student before, came back completely changed.
She now has a new view of the world and amazing stories to share.
