Budget cuts threaten Burlington-Edison's Naval Sea Cadets, Ocean Tech programs

BURLINGTON - The U.S. Naval Sea Corps and Oceans and Technology programs at Burlington-Edison High School, which aim to teach students leadership skills and prepare them for jobs in science, technology, engineering, and math, are facing budget cuts.

Burlington-Edison teacher Dan Boudreau teaches Oceans and Technology and the U.S. Naval Sea Corps, and taught robotics before it was cut this fall.

The Sea Cadet program covers civics, first aid, navigation and Naval history. Oceans and Technology covers underwater robotics, seafloor mapping and oceanographic geography.

Boudreau said he averages one or two students a year who go into the military, but it's not the point of his programs - he said the point is to gain life and leadership skills, become informed voters and register to vote.

"The main goal of the program is not to get kids in the military, but to build leadership … It's about developing young leaders that are responsible and have developed their character a bit," Boudreau said.

The programs have had a decline in enrollment since 2013, before Boudreau took over in 2016.

The Sea Cadet and Oceans and Technology programs have been getting smaller, particularly in the past three years, due to shrinking district enrollment, operating budgets and funding for the technical education department.

This year, government shutdowns made it especially difficult to keep doing field trips.

Typically, the group would have gone to Fairhaven to get on an 87-foot Coast Guard boat, where students could practice seamanship skills such as helping with the man overboard, launching the seaboat or running the firefighting hoses.

Students have also visited and toured Navy ships, rescue helicopters, and done swim training.

The Sea Cadet program was able to get on a submarine in Kitsap Peninsula in January, but several field trips had to be canceled due to inadequate funding or government shutdowns.

Boudreau said his classes have become consolidated or cut more each year, limiting the program goals of giving students opportunities to try things they normally wouldn't get to try.

Juniors and seniors in the programs often go on to running start at Skagit Valley College or to the Northwest Career and Technical Academy to take a certification course.

On May 19, students in the Oceans and Technology program, with assistance from the Sea Cadets, went on a field trip to Seafarer's Memorial Park in Anacortes to send remotely operated vehicles into the water for seafloor mapping.

Seafloor mapping is a skill typically used in the military to understand what's on the sea floor before bringing in vessels, people or cargo into ports and harbors.

Students compared robot-gathered data and human-gathered data to determine which is more accurate, and took the data they gathered to build a hydrographic chart.

Oceans and Technology student Joshua Atristain-Reyes, a freshman, said he learned how to use a wetsuit, and how to use a sounding line and slate to record underwater information.

Naval Sea Cadet student Aspen Gildnes, a senior, was certified as an open water scuba diver a couple of years ago and helped with the hydrographic survey last week.

"It's my third time doing this, and eventually underwater archeology is what I would like to do in the future," Gildnes said.

The Navy League got the Sea Cadet program a grant for the underwater robot sensors.

This year, students in the Sea Cadet program won the regional championship with three first-place finishes and one third-place finish.

"As soon as they announced that we were the winners of the regional competition … (the students) lost their minds, it was fun," Boudreau said.

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This story was originally published May 29, 2026 at 5:56 PM.