EXP x Cal Maritime: Fueling Maritime Career Dreams
For nearly 20 years, EXP and California State University Maritime Academy (Cal Maritime) have partnered to support education and career development in the maritime and trade industries. This collaboration has made Phineas Banning High School the largest feeder school for Cal Maritime in California, producing many maritime professionals who often return to the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach.
It all started with retired oil tanker captain and former port pilot Jim Morgan.
EXP Founder Carol Rowen, Captain Jim Morgan, and Metro Ports former CEO Jim Callahan with EXP Cal Maritime graduates including EXP current board member Elizabeth Machuca (5th from the left).
All It Takes is One Caring Adult
In the early 2000s, as our programs grew at Phineas Banning High School, we sought meaningful partnerships with the maritime and international trade industries. Our founder, former Los Angeles Harbor Commissioner Carol Rowen, brought in her “coalition of caring adults” to help. Carol tapped Captain Jim, then Director of Construction and Maintenance at the Port of Los Angeles, to chair the Global Safety & Security (GSS) Academy advisory board at the high school.
As a Cal Maritime alum, Jim recruited fellow Keehaulers—including Captains Frank Whipple, Laura Kovary, John Betz, and Kim Estes—to develop and further enrich GSS’s co-curricular activities. From this collaboration, Jim and Frank connected EXP with Cal Maritime to organize a week-long field trip to the Vallejo campus, where students could gain maritime skills and experience college life.
Established in 1929, Cal Maritime is the only degree-granting maritime academy on the West Coast. Located in Vallejo, California, the campus offers undergraduate degrees that prepare students for engineering, transportation, international relations, business, and global logistics careers.
In the summer of 2005, about 40 GSS juniors went on an unforgettable trip, starting a tradition that continued 20 years later. Branded as Career EXPedition: Cal Maritime, students in the program complete courses and training to earn industry-recognized Personal Survival and Basic Marine Firefighting certificates. This hands-on approach equips them with the skills and knowledge needed to excel in the maritime industry.
For 15 years, Metro Ports, the parent company of Nautilus International Holdings, and former CEO Jim Callahan, a friend of Captain Jim, supported this innovative program. After Jim Callahan retired, the Port of Los Angeles continued the support.
A Trip that Changes Lives
The Career EXPedition: Cal Maritime has expanded to serve all EXP-supported pathways at Phineas Banning High School. In 2022, it opened to students from all EXP-supported schools, including the first-ever participant from Barstow High School.
“The continued partnership between the EXP program and Cal Maritime is one that creates an environment for high school students to gain a hands-on experience of the educational opportunities Cal Maritime offers”, said Cal Maritime’s Interim President, Michael Dumont. “This experience, combined with exposure to the maritime industry, provides awareness of potential career paths for their future and helps build out the much-needed workforce to sustain the industry.”
This annual trip offers more than career exploration and training. For many students, it broadens their horizons beyond their own neighborhoods.
For Romeo Clay from Phineas Banning High School ’24, the trip changed his whole world. “As someone who wasn’t sure about what I wanted to do for college, this was an eye-opening and very enriching experience,” said Romeo. “I learned that this is the industry that I want to go into by talking to professionals such as captains and chief engineers at Cal Maritime.”
Romeo is now a student worker in the Port of Los Angeles’s Cargo Marketing department and will attend Cal Maritime this fall. “One thing that made me really want to attend Cal Maritime is that you can come in without prior experience in the industry and still be successful.”
“It was amazing to have a great group of students from the LA Harbor area on our campus every summer,” said Interim President Dumont. “It is remarkable that this collaboration has realized more than 40 EXP students from Phineas Banning High School graduating from Cal Maritime over the years and we look forward to many more.”
Romeo Clay piloting a ship in the bridge simulator during this Career EXPedition trip in 2023.
Sandra Maksim with EXP scholarship recipients at Oceans of Opportunity in 2024.
Fueling College and Career Dreams
The EXP and Cal Maritime connection is strengthened by alumni and industry professionals who support EXP students through scholarships and mentorship programs. Captain Jim established an endowed scholarship for Phineas Banning/EXP alums attending Cal Maritime to relieve the financial burden on students. More than $750,000 has been raised in scholarship funds since 2005 and there is currently more than $250,000 available in the newly established scholarship for Banning/EXP students.
Following Captain Jim’s example, in 2019, Captain Frank Whipple’s family and friends established an EXP scholarship fund in his name to support an EXP student pursuing studies at Cal Maritime, awarded at our annual Oceans of Opportunity scholarship celebration.
One beneficiary of these scholarships is Sandra Maksim, class of ’11. Inspired by Captain Jim’s visit to Phineas Banning High School, Sandra was determined to attend Cal Maritime despite her family’s lack of support. She saved money through internships from her junior year in high school through college. She relied on scholarships such as the one provided by Jim Morgan and from EXP to get through college.
Now the Automation Interface Safety Manager at Long Beach Container Terminal, Inc., Sandra continues to advocate for EXP and Cal Maritime and returns to volunteer her time and talent as an EXP volunteer.
As the 2024 cohort just returned from the Career EXPedition this July, we are reminded of Captain Jim Morgan’s commitment to the maritime industry and the lasting partnership he has helped forge for EXP and Cal Maritime to develop future generations of mariners. As we celebrate our 25th anniversary, we are grateful for his and his fellow Keelhaulers' dedication to the maritime industry and the support of our community partners in providing these life-changing experiences for our students.
Join us on the 25th of every month to learn about EXP’s history as we celebrate our 25th anniversary from now through June 2025.