When we talk about The Landing School, we talk about alumni networking and job placement; we showcase our experiential teaching methods and shop time; we discuss the credentials of our faculty and administrative staff. But, we sometimes forget to touch upon one of the most important aspects of an education—and the experience—at The Landing School: Teamwork and camaraderie.
Walking the shops and talking to students, you hear them collaborating with one another; you see them in small groups working on projects, looking for solutions, grappling with little challenges. You catch someone teaching a fellow student how to tie a bowline, or you witness two students with their heads bent over a panel of wiring.
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With COVID, we have had to maintain program separation to mitigate our risks, but that doesn’t stop this organic desire within the students to see what others are working on. A load of wood arrives for an independent-study student’s project, and the parking lot is quickly populated with people ready to help unload. In the above banner image, we show students gathered outside for COVID safety in the drizzly, chilly air to witness the Composite Boat Building students pull an LS 20 from its mold (more on this below, scroll to the bottom for a fun video).
Friendships are forged at The Landing School and careers are built. Like the alumni in the video we recorded with American Magic, we hear about graduates who move in packs, and support each other through numerous jobs.
It remains an honor to support this varied group of high school graduates, military veterans, boating enthusiasts, and retirees as they begin their careers surrounded by some of the highest quality colleagues and friends.
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EARLY ENROLLMENT INCENTIVE!
Tell your friends, family, colleagues, and neighbors: The Landing School offers a $500 return on tuition for anyone who enrolls before March 31, 2021.
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The Landing School is picking up some nice press, both locally and in the national trade magazines, so you may have heard about these already.
In our ongoing efforts to maintain a near 90% post-graduate employment rate for our students, we have launched a student resume and video page. The concept is one video per participating student, outlining their skillsets and goals as well as showcasing their individual personalities. Under the video, any potential employer can view the student’s resume. If you are looking to employ your crew or know of anyone who is hiring, share these pages.
The videos also highlight the diversity of The Landing School’s student body. It’s very illuminating to click through some of the videos to see and hear what our students have to say.
To read more, visit:
The Landing School’s Job Board
As we have discussed, career-planning is a big part of a student’s experience at The Landing School. If you’re looking for employment, or looking for personnel, jump over to our Job Board. Your job posting is free. In the first quarter in 2021, we have seen jobs posted at double the rate of 12 months ago (pre-COVID) and triple the 2019 level. There is work out there, and TLS graduates are in great demand!
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Notes from the Shop Floor |
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If you follow us on social media (and if you don’t, you really should—links are at the bottom of this email), you’ve likely seen this footage. It’s worth sharing here again because it showcases the teamwork and enthusiasm we see on a near daily basis in the shops. When you’re in the process of building a boat, turning the hull is, as many of us know, a milestone. Not only does it signify the next level in your project, but it requires a great deal of planning, synchronization, lifting, and not a small amount of tension, both emotional and physical. |
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Flipping the Town Classes in Wooden Boat Building is a big moment that resonates throughout the school. The class stands together, carefully prepping the hull and area around it, and then gracefully flips it. It happens every year. And the shine hasn’t dulled.
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Glassing Leo’s Boat
Our imminently photo-averse Program Assistant Leo Boivin is building an Adirondack Guideboat (“It’s not a canoe!”) in our shops. These vessels first started appearing in the 1800s, and were designed to be very lightweight so one person could haul the boat loaded with gear. They may look like canoes, but they are more stable and they are to be rowed, not paddled. The lightweight construction makes them fast and efficient, as well as easy to portage when they are loaded to the gunwales.
Traditionally made with pine planking and spruce frames, they are now more regularly seen in Kevlar. In our shops, however, Leo completed the hull with cedar strip planks on a male frame and glassed the exterior with the Wooden Boat Building students, then tasked our Composite Boat Building class with glassing the interior. “Inside glassing is trickier because it has to be pristine and clear,” says Richard Downs-Honey. “It’s easier to wrinkle in a boat like this, but the composites class did a really, really nice job” with a layer of 6-oz E-Glass fiberglass cloth with WEST SYSTEM 105 and 207 hardener for clarity.
Just don’t call it a canoe. Or a scow. Or a dory.
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Yacht Design Final Project Parameters |
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Each year, the Yacht Design students are tasked with creating a final design. Prior to Spring Break, students submit a proposal for approval. When they return (which is this week), they begin working on their designs.
These final designs are meant to highlight what they’ve learned throughout the school year. Come May, the initial sketches are compared with the final detailed design and the students "defend" their projects prior to graduation. To the right, you can see last year's graduating class' boats.
You can see a true evolution of thought, as well as the influence of learning, from 3D renderings to pages of calculations, and layers of drawings for interior, systems, and construction.
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For the 2021 graduating class, final projects must be a composite, wood, or metal power or sail monohull with a waterline length between 25’ and 45’. Overall length cannot exceed 60’. The boat must accommodate four or more people for a minimum of five days of cruising, and include at least one stateroom, a head with shower, and a galley. There is plenty of opportunity for creative solutions, and no two vessels are alike.
Or, the student may choose to do a commercial boat, with a refined list of parameters. Deliverables for the final project will include a design spec, parametric study, 3D model, various 2D drawings, design notebook, renderings, and all necessary supporting calculations. We’ll keep you posted!
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Boatbuilding and Repair Education: Snout to Tail |
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The Composite Boat Building class recently built an LS 20 and did some dynamic testing, as in smashed it to see what happens with hand laminated balsa core vs infused foam core.
The hull was then cut into sections that were fully examined, before getting delivered to Marine Systems for further work.
Because nothing goes to waste here.
More after the jump....
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