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The Menomonee River isn’t your typical classroom. Then again, the group of 10- to 12-year-olds who spent a week along its shoreline weren’t your typical class.
These students, along with some older teens, were part of a summer program from All Hands Boatworks, a local nonprofit teaching youth about the craft of wooden boatbuilding, Milwaukee’s rivers and the Great Lakes. But the learning extends well beyond the water.
“When we’re building this boat, it’s not about building a boat,” longtime volunteer Trent Myers said. “It reinforces their math skills. They haven’t used a tape measure. A lot of fractions involved … basic tool skills, power tools, safety. The main thing: You expand their sense of what they’re capable of achieving.”
I joined at the end of a weeklong project that saw the kids get their boat ready for launch day, assisted by instructors like Myers. They were building a 12-foot Bevin’s Skiff — a small, open rowboat that doesn’t take a motor and ideally fits about three people — that they named “The Sprint.”
“I’m excited but a little nervous because I don’t know if the boat is going to work,” said Terrell, XX, one of the kids working on the project. “But I think we did a good job.”
Some of Terrell’s fellow builders shared that feeling of uncertainty whether their hard work would be successful. Despite the healthy skepticism, they came away with a boat that looked as sturdy as the support the students received throughout the week.
“Confidence is always the biggest thing I look for,” lead program instructor Claire Oliphant said. “Usually in the beginning we ask, ‘Do you think this wood pile will become a boat?’ … I heard a couple say it won’t float, but they’ll see. Just going onto the water, they’re trusting their physical selves, and they know they can do these things.”
The weeklong experience includes building birdhouses and kayaking on the river before culminating with a dedication ceremony and boat launch. Spoiler alert: “The Sprint” floated smoothly down the river as its makers took turns rowing. In the end, the doubts disappeared and were replaced by feelings of “really happy,” “proud” and even “psyched.”
“I’m really excited to see the progress that they’ve made over the week,” said Dorothy Kulke, mother of accomplished boatbuilders Oscar and Edgar. “This is hard work. It’s something that takes some time and patience. Those are all qualities that are important for children to learn these days.”
