The Landing School is a place for all of us. The nontraditional class structures and hands-on learning attract students and supporters who are passionate about boats and the marine industry. Nobody in this building is free from getting dust on their clothes or bits of adhesive on their fingertips. It’s normal to be in a meeting or at a desk and have someone walk in with resin in a plastic container—“This was kept at room temperature; check out the viscosity”—or to walk by two people deep in conversation and making notes on the outside of a shipping box because that was the closest surface, or to see an equation written out with a finger in the dust on a mold. The Landing School is a composites lab. It’s a design studio. It’s a repair shop. It’s a wood mill.
We are here because we love boats. We love the mechanics of boats. We love the structure of boats. We encourage our students to create, design, think through challenges, make mistakes, experiment, and find solutions.
For this, we—staff and faculty alike—are grateful for 2020. We realized the strength of our school, the longevity of our programs, and the fortitude of our student body. We prevail because we are the place for future designers, builders, repairers, and leaders.
This newsletter is shorter than usual because Kate Slocum (Wooden Boat Building ’20) has shared an update about her second-year project that illustrates the culture at The Landing School better than we ever could.
Have a great holiday everyone. We will see you in 2021.