Nicholas Pagon, Founder

Nick Pagon is an experienced teacher, lifelong sailor, and woodworker/boat-builder. He has taught in Philadelphia public and charter schools, and has worked with students ranging from 3rd grade through high school. He holds a Master’s Degree in Education as well as Pennsylvania teaching certifications in SPED (K-12), Middle School English, and Middle School Math. As a sailor and woodworker, he has a deep interest in worldwide maritime history, especially that of Philadelphia. His interests led him to work in the traditional wooden boat shop of the Independence Seaport Museum over 10 years ago. Working alongside some of the premier shipwrights in the country, he learned a great deal about the art and science of wooden boat-building. He also helped develop after-school programs for city students in the Museum’s boat-shop facilities, overseeing both the boat-shop and the Museum’s educational programming, which continues today.
Prior to working in boat-building and education, Nick worked for many years in financial analysis, business planning, and management. Nick is dedicated to supporting internal leadership and has been actively working to encourage other staff to lead programming efforts and organizational direction.
Prior to working in boat-building and education, Nick worked for many years in financial analysis, business planning, and management. Nick is dedicated to supporting internal leadership and has been actively working to encourage other staff to lead programming efforts and organizational direction.
Carolyn Hesse, Shop Manager

Carolyn began working part-time at Philadelphia Waterborne in March, 2017. Carolyn is formally trained as a fine artist, woodworker, and boat builder (Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Alfred University). She and Nick met while working at Independence Seaport Museum and have remained friends and colleagues. Carolyn is Philadelphia Waterborne’s Shop Manager. She also works part-time with partner organizations Bartram’s Garden and Glen Foerd.
Joanne Douglas, Program Coordinator

Joanne began working with Philadelphia Waterborne as the Internship & Summer Programs Coordinator in 2017. Joanne holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania and is working on a Master of Environmental Studies, also at the University of Pennsylvania. She is a science teacher at Jubilee School in West Philadelphia and works part-time with partner organizations Bartram’s Garden and Glen Foerd. At Philadelphia Waterborne, Joanne developed and implemented the first summer environmental internship program, which is a program housed at Bartram’s Garden and shared by numerous boatbuilding and environmental education programs across Philadelphia. This summer, Joanne will be running all of Philadelphia Waterborne’s summer programs.
Chloe Wang, Program Assistant

Chloe began working in River Programs at Bartram’s Garden in July, 2017 as a post-bac fellow of Haverford College, where she studied chemistry and environmental studies. She assists with management of all on-water programming at Bartram’s Garden, which includes Philadelphia Waterborne rowboat launches and programs that invite the public to utilize the rowboats. She is also supporting supervision and curriculum development for this summer’s internship program, and developing a civic science water quality monitoring initiative on the Lower Schuylkill River.
In addition to her work at Bartram’s, Chloe has designed interdisciplinary, field-based environmental studies courses with Haverford faculty, exhibited artwork at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, and researched Gulf of Mexico oil, deep sea microbe-mineral interactions, honeybee health, and plastics in the Delaware River watershed.
In addition to her work at Bartram’s, Chloe has designed interdisciplinary, field-based environmental studies courses with Haverford faculty, exhibited artwork at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, and researched Gulf of Mexico oil, deep sea microbe-mineral interactions, honeybee health, and plastics in the Delaware River watershed.