Inside a buzzing waterfront warehouse just an easy sail south of Washington, D.C., a cloud of fine dust envelops a young man as he sands a 10-foot piece of thin wood in fluid, circular motions.

"Hey, I need to talk to you about your essay," interrupts Joe Youcha, the executive director of the Alexandria Seaport Foundation.

Just months ago, the carpentry student was a high-school dropout selling drugs on the street until he landed in juvenile detention. That's when the Foundation intervened to help re-build his life. Like the nearly 500 students before him, the young man is learning the rudiments of boatbuilding as part of the Foundation's apprenticeship, a program formed to help rudderless teens get back on course.

ALEXANDRIA SEAPORT FOUNDATIONStudents learn how to build wooden boats along with hands-on lessons that drive home classroom instruction in math, science and English.Students learn how to build wooden boats along with hands-on lessons that drive home the two hours a day of classroom instruction in math, science and English. They're also asked to chronicle their experiences in essays and a journal.

The apprentices work on custom boat orders and produce pre-cut kits that local communities or organizations can assemble into simple, flat-bottomed skiffs. They cut and pack the kits, which have been sent across the country and all over the world. A variety of groups purchase them, including scout troops, schools, cities, environmental organizations, parks and families.

Those who successfully finish the required six months also get a crash course for the test granting them the equivalency of a high school diploma, and several land jobs where they can use their newly-acquired carpentry skills.

PROVING GROUND

First the young men and women have to prove themselves, and Youcha, 45, is no pushover. Students start out earning a little more than minimum wage, with a 50-cent raise for attendance and 25 cents more for leadership and performance. If they're truly committed, the young men and women can finish the program making $10 an hour and learn enough to prepare for a union job through a partnership with the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America. If the students exceed expectations, they may even get a coveted job recommendation, which Youcha reserves for the best of the best.

If they start to slack, there are consequences. Students who show up late or unprepared for class earn minimum wage that day. Three violations within a two-week period can mean dismissal.

"We don't always fire them but we have it hanging over their head," Youcha explains. "If they're unprepared or they don't show up, they're not much use to us."

ALEXANDRIA SEAPORT FOUNDATIONStudents learn the rudiments of boatbuilding as part of the Foundation's apprenticeship program.A sailor and longtime boat builder, Youcha grew up as a "river rat" on the Hudson River north of New York City. As an adult, he was writing software-training materials and was ready for a radical career change. He tried his hand at boat making but quickly realized he couldn't make a living at it.

Taking over the foundation in 1992, when its focus was tall sailing ships and maritime history, he came up with the idea of starting a boat-building community program similar to one he knew about at the Center for Wooden Boats in Seattle.

"I had a job I really hated and a wife that told me I'd better do something about it," he says with a wry smile. "I tried making boats for a living but I found out I was ending up with about $2 profit per boat."

The idea of helping troubled teenagers learn marketable skills and earn their high school equivalency came to Bill Hunley, the Foundation's chairman emeritus and retired chief Navy architect shortly after Youcha took over. He and Youcha developed a six-month program of studies in math, science and writing to help prepare the teens to take the high school graduate equivalency exam. In addition, the apprentices draw on the math and science to learn how to design and build custom-ordered boats and cut the wood needed for making the skiff kits.

Boatbuilding is not the only agenda. The life skills gained through the apprenticeship – responsibility, accountability, discipline, self-confidence and team building – help the young people transition into the work force.

FOUNDATION SHIFTS FOCUS

Originally, the foundation's sole focus was promoting Alexandria's colonial maritime heritage. After the Revolutionary War, the Virginia General Assembly made Alexandria, a bustling port town, an international port of entry with its own customs officer. Some 85 ships a year carried tobacco and flour exports off to Europe and the West Indies.

In its early days, the foundation built a U.S. Coast-Guard certified re-creation of an historic Potomac River Dory boat. This brand of two-mast, wooden 42-footer plied the river's waters for decades in the early 1900s. The vessel is docked near the warehouse so the foundation can use it as a floating classroom.

The foundation also bought a tall ship and christened it the schooner Alexandria, and the wooden vessel's costly maintenance dominated the non-profit's activities.

ALEXANDRIA SEAPORT FOUNDATIONThe foundation's budget is about $750,000 a year, including proceeds from kit sales and corporate, private and government grants.By 1992, when Youcha stepped in, the foundation realized it needed to refocus. Now the foundation operates with six full-time staff and a team of volunteers, most of them retired men dedicated to helping turn around the lives of the wayward youth.

One teacher, Al Crim, started out as a volunteer in 1992 and enjoyed his interactions with the students so much that he decided to make it a full-time job.

"A lot of these kids are selling on the streets," Crim says. "We're showing them there's another way – that there's a lot more to life."

COMMUNITY ONBOARD

The foundation will celebrate its 25th birthday on September 29, a day the city will celebrate with "Seaport Day," which will include exhibits and classes showcasing the area's maritime history. The day before will feature a team boat-building challenge, a chance for groups and businesses to sponsor a team that will build a simple boat in a day.

The students and surrounding community also benefit from ties Youcha has with the Smithsonian. From time to time, the foundation helps museum officials with educational boat launches from the shores of the Potomac. In June, for example, apprentices and crew from the Seaport Foundation joined members of the Alaskan Tlingit tribe in launching the Raven Canoe, an ocean-going dugout. The students took part in the celebratory blessing and spiritual practices surrounding the creation and donation of the canoe to the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History, where it will hang suspended from the ceiling in the new Ocean Hall. The canoe's master carver, Douglas Chilton, came down from Juneau, Alaska for the occasion.

The Foundation also recently helped the Museum of American Indian launch an authentic Hawaiian outrigger canoe.

"In Hawaii, the most important person is the canoe builder – he's the Big Kahuna," Youcha says.

BUILDING THE PROGRAM

The foundation's budget is about $750,000 a year, including proceeds from kit sales and corporate, private and government grants. The apprenticeship program started with 20 students a year, but boats sales have allowed the program to expand to 45 students annually.

Another boost is on the way. The local ABC affiliate's "Built Upon a Dream" project – inspired by network's elaborate "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" program – offers charities the chance to dramatically upgrade their space. The news stations ask local construction and architecture companies and private citizens to donate the materials, manpower and money, which the stations agrees to match dollar-for-dollar.

ALEXANDRIA SEAPORT FOUNDATIONBoatbuilding is not the only agenda. The life skills gained through the apprenticeship help the young people transition into the work force.The goal is a $400,000 transformation of the apprenticeship facilities. The wish list includes a heated and vastly expanded shop plus additional classrooms, office space, storage and bathroom facilities. The extra space will free up the boathouse located in Old Town's marina nearby, which is being used as classroom space.

It, too, will receive an upgrade, including a new railing and extra signs for increased exposure when the new water taxis start operating a route from Old Town to the new National Harbor, a massive marina and shopping facility just south of Old Town on the Maryland side of the Potomac. The first floor of the boat house will be devoted entirely to carpentry and boat-building, allowing a better way for the apprentices and volunteers to showcase their techniques to the public.

So far the project has raised $216,000, including the ABC affiliate match. BoatsU.S., the foundation's longest supporter, has kicked in $15,000, while Kirkland Construction, Rand Construction, R&B Ind. And Tech Painting have donated building materials. Construction has already begun and will finish when the fundraising drive is complete.

The goal is to bring in more apprentices and also partner with the juvenile courts to revive after school programs working with disadvantaged youth, Youcha says.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

Youcha measures the success of his students by their progress one year after they graduate from the program. Between six and seven of every 10 are in school or employed.

Kenneath Mobley, 23, is among the success stories. He embraced the apprenticeship's discipline and job training, performing so well that Youcha recommended him as a mechanic for a Potomac River charter boat when he graduated from the apprenticeship in 2001, but still stops by the Foundation to check in from time to time.

Mobley went on to enlist in the Marines, was stationed at Okinawa, Japan, and served for a year in Iraq. When his unit in Okinawa was sent to Afghanistan, his commanders held him back because he was too valuable to send.

"They guys in Okinawa liked him because the trucks he fixed didn't come back," Youcha quips.

After his years overseas, Mobley wants to stay closer to home and build on the skills first learned through his apprenticeship. He has enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard where he can work on boat engines full-time. He credits the foundation, which he visits often, for setting him on straight course.

"If it weren't for this," he said. "I would probably be in a lot of trouble right now."