Garage donated to Orland school Structure to house boat-building class

ORLAND – The new boat-building program at the consolidated school has a new home.

A crew from Maine-Wide Construction Inc. of Augusta was at the school early Wednesday, putting up a 24-by-32-foot garage that will serve as the program’s new boathouse. Maine-Wide not only donated the building, but also sent along a crew to build it.

The garage was one of several items donated to the program over the holidays, and it has raised the hopes of teacher John Larrabee to expand the program to include a variety of building projects for all middle school pupils.

As he watched the crew setting the rafters for the roof, Larrabee said the donation had moved the process along a lot faster than he expected.

“This is where I expected to be two or three years from now,” he said.

For the past year, Larrabee has been working with a small group of pupils who first built some picnic tables and then started work on a rowing skiff.

All of the work has been done outdoors, with the boat and materials being stored in a small shed that the town’s recreation department let them use.

The youngsters completed the skiff before winter and plan to launch it on the nearby Naramissic River this spring.

The new building and other donations came through the efforts of the school’s secretary, Jean Sargent, who got the ball rolling after the boat-building project received some publicity last fall.

“As a secretary, an ed tech and a community member, I try to support the programs at the school,” Sargent said. “This is such a valuable project. It was something that I thought should be continued.”

She took a copy of the article that appeared in the newspaper and sent it, along with a letter, to building contractors in the area and beyond.

Maine-Wide responded with the building and the crew. Dana Doane Foundations, a local contractor, arranged for a donation of concrete and donated time to pour the slab for the building. The local parent- teachers organization pitched in funds to purchase a shop vacuum and a band saw, and an anonymous donor provided funds to purchase a boat kit for use in the program next year.

The new building gives them more than just a space to work in, Larrabee said. It provides a foundation on which to build a pre-vocational program for all middle school pupils.

Using the extra space, he said, he can foresee a program for pupils in grades five through eight in which they can “cycle through” working on boats and other building projects.

“I can see it becoming a club or a team, where kids can come in and learn different skills during their study halls,” he said. “Eventually, with the staff and support from the community and the school committee, it could become a full-fledged technology program.”

It’s a program that is needed, he said.

“Middle-schoolers need to have a connection between school and work, school and community early on, so they can learn the importance of school,” he said.

“And not all kids learn that from books and lectures. Some need to see it and feel it and to do it themselves.”

Larrabee expected the building to be closed in by the end of the day Wednesday, but noted that he was still looking for donations to help finish the building. They still need to run electricity to the building and run lights and heat inside. And they need a door for the garage bay.

The teacher also hopes to put cedar shingles on the building next spring, with the pupils doing most of that work.