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.
