A $50,000 donation from FMC Technologies will help fund the Flagship Niagara League's school day sail program in 2015.

The educational partnership and funding will allow about 1,000 Erie and regional middle school students to sail aboard the U.S. Brig Niagara in 2015, Flagship Niagara League Executive Director Shawn Waskiewicz said.

Jim Ertl, FMC Technologies' vice president and general manager, presented a check to Flagship Niagara League officials at a news conference Tuesday at the Erie Maritime Museum.

"Everyone who has walked off the boat has a greater appreciation of what that ship meant in history and what it means to Erie today,'' Ertl said. "That's our symbol. As part of our commitment to Erie, we're going to have an opportunity to provide 1,000 students a memory of a lifetime, and they're going to experience the history of the ship, the significance of the Battle of Lake Erie and what it's like to have to be part of a team to make that ship work,'' he said.

Half of the 1,000 students will take day sails aboard the Niagara in the spring and half will sail next fall, Waskiewicz said.

"We try to get kids out on a day sail who necessarily couldn't afford to go out and kids who are going to appreciate it,'' Waskiewicz said. "I think kids sometimes are a little apprehensive and they're not sure what to expect, but once they go on board, they have a really good time.''

Student day sails typically last about two and a half hours.

"Our program is so much set up as an adult program that we don't always have the opportunity to bring younger students on board, and it's important to have that age bracket of seventh- and eighth-grade students to come on board and have a real experience sailing Niagara,'' U.S. Brig Niagara Capt. Billy Sabatini said. "This isn't just going to a museum and seeing it. You're actually experiencing it.''

Day sails in 2015 are earmarked for about 500 Erie School District middle school students, Waskiewicz said. Other schools in Erie and Crawford counties, and western New York, can submit an application to the Flagship Niagara League to bid on the other 500 remaining spots, Waskiewicz said.

RON LEONARDI can be reached at 870-1680 or by e-mail.