Growth in a Boat Shop

Safe Spaces and Relationships started in 2018 as a three-day program where students from Bridges for Learning worked with the Marine Conservation Assistant at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic to build and launch a wooden row boat. Since then, the program has continued to grow and evolve into what is now a five-month vocational program where students not only gain valuable employability skills, but can also work towards an academic credit in Construction Technology.  Every year is different and the outcomes we are seeing from the participants keeps getting better and better.

Thanks to support from the Youth Development Initiative, last year seven students took part for varying lengths of the program.  They collectively built two cedar 11’4” San Marcos Stand Up Paddleboards from start to finish. They also worked on an ongoing project to complete a 26’ sailboat. This opportunity allowed the students to gain experience in construction and building, planning and design, teamwork, and workplace safety; all important employability skills that will help them in their future endeavours.  Two of the students earned their Construction Technology credit and one also earned his Pleasure Craft Operator’s card.  Both of the young people who took on these extra challenges have historically had much less success in educational environments than their peers.  It was very exciting to see this program meet their educational, social, and emotional needs so they could experience this success.

As part of this program the group also had a private tour of Irving Shipbuilding where they got to see the construction of boats on a much larger scale.  They were very excited to see how the operation works and learn about all of the possible employment opportunities that may be in their future.  Two of them left the facility talking about what trades they planned on studying in college so they could come back and work there one day.

The Bridges for Learning Team and our Recreation Therapist support the young people through every step of this program and it was fascinating to see the roles reverse when the day came to launch the paddleboards. The Youth Care Specialist who works in the classroom with the young people was a bit nervous getting into the row boat that accompanied the paddleboards and one of the young people was coaching her and reassuring her as she boarded the boat.  The Recreation Therapist and one of the young people were the first to each take one of the paddleboards out for a test drive.  It was obvious that the Recreation Therapist was a bit wobbly at first and the young people were rooting for him and cheering him on as he stood up for the very first time.

The young people gain a lot of life and employability skills through this program, but they also build a sense of belonging and community which is just as important.  The program wrapped up at the end of June and they have already made one tip back to the boat shop for a visit and boat ride and plan to go again.  Thank you to everyone who supports this meaningful program.  We can’t wait to see what the young people build next year.