New York Harbor School & The Billion Oyster Project

Nate’s mission has always been to connect his students’ learning with the real world. In 2003 Nate became the Founding Principal of the Urban Assembly New York Harbor School, a new small maritime public high school in Bushwick, Brooklyn. The school’s mission is to engage students by using New York City’s greatest resource, its harbor, as a classroom for students to develop college readiness, career and technical skills (CTE), and environmental stewardship.

To fulfill these goals, Nate also helped create the Billion Oyster Project, a 501c3, and he coordinated the school’s work with more than 60 environmental, educational, and community partners. In 2010 Nate moved the Harbor School from Bushwick to its current home on Governors Island, off the tip of Manhattan.

The Harbor School’s CTE programs support the Billion Oyster Project to restore the water quality of New York Harbor by putting a billion oysters in the NY Harbor by 2035. Harbor School and BOP have become a national model for student-run restoration projects. Nate is also working with a planning team to create Harbor Schools in port cities around the United States.