NEW ORLEANS — Students from East St. John High School in Reserve recently attended the “Who Works the Rivers” field trip in New Orleans to get an introduction into what maritime job opportunities exist in the area. Students visited Crescent Towing, one of the largest tugboat companies in Greater New Orleans.

Students visited the dispatch center that coordinates ship traffic along the Mississippi River, met with staff from the personnel office to learn about the types of careers available at a tugboat company, met with the maintenance supervisor who discussed the types of repairs and maintenance necessary to keep the tugboats operational and toured a tugboat.

Students then toured the Port of New Orleans by bus. Students were able to see port operations along the Tchoupitoulas Street wharf, an area typically off limits to the public.

Students learned of the economic impact of the port to the New Orleans area, the types of port jobs and companies and other interesting facts about the port, as well as posing questions to port employees.

Finally, students went to the Cruise Ship Passenger Terminal for lunch and then rotated through a mini career fair, visiting stations manned by representatives of companies associated with the maritime industry, the U.S. Coast Guard and the University of New Orleans, which has a marine engineering and naval architecture program.