Alum Story: Leigh Williams

Alumna Leigh, who recently completed our 12-week program, shares about her experiences—and the path that brought her to The ‘Shop. From first discovering The Apprenticeship while waiting for a ferry in 2015, to completing Olive Rose, her Susan Skiff, she offers some brilliant reflections on her time with us. 

I first discovered the Apprenticeshop in 2015 while waiting for the ferry to North Haven. By chance I was working as the assistant lighthouse keeper for the Goose Rocks Lighthouse, a sparkplug in the Fox Island Thoroughfare between North Haven and Vinalhaven. During that summer I saw interns working on their own wooden boat projects and met Foy Brown who owns the boatyard where many of the traditional wooden lobster boats were constructed and maintained. I dreamed of a life near the sea and of imbedding myself into a project like building a boat. As luck had it I met some amazing people that summer who encouraged my ambition and set my years-long journey in motion. Upon my return to Vermont in the fall of 2015 I immediately set to work building a 12’ (Dynamite)Payson designed flat bottom skiff with the help of a master woodworker who volunteered to help me.

Seven years later, when I sold my business of 21 years, I knew immediately that my first stop would be The Apprenticeshop. For so many reasons this made sense. It gave me the illusive but necessary opportunity to focus on one task, to build and develop a new set of skills with a beginner’s mindset, to be part of an organization that I greatly admire as a leader in experiential education and to be on the water. To build something from nothing is the metaphor, and throughout the process the life-sized parallels are undeniable.

The curriculum and building process allow every student to push themselves and learn in new ways. It encourages creative solutions, taking time to think things through, collaborate, ask questions and repeat. I was excited and confident every time I figured something out or completed a process or task I had never done before. Learning to sharpen my own tools, choose and mill the wood needed for the boat, create the stem using hammer and chisel and build joints with compound angles cut with the pull saw brought an unbelievable sense of growth and accomplishment. With just the right amount of instruction and struggle the team leads each apprentice on a journey of self-discovery that makes every moment worthwhile. It is exciting to learn something new and even more exciting when there is an entire team of supportive people behind you.

Photo by Erin Tokarz

My experience at The Apprenticeshop goes far beyond building the Susan Skiff. From the moment I started my 12 week Apprenticeship I was transformed. The culture of acceptance and inclusion, the focus and drive to learn and grow, the morning meetings and the Friday walk- around, the methods and the madness, the simple beauty of the shop, the light, the smell of wood, the collective wisdom and truly caring nature of every apprentice and staff are all things I will remember and cherish. And yes, I did ultimately complete my skiff. I enjoyed working side-by-side with Tom, my cohort-mate in the 12 week program and getting to know and work with all of the other one and two year apprentices. I came away from the program with amazing gratitude for the people who have worked since 1972 to build this incredible place that brings people together by expecting greatness. I also now understand the Apprenticeshop tag line, Boats Building People.

All of this is to say that It means a lot to me to be a supporter of this amazing organization, even though it may be a small amount. I encourage you to give and to support the Apprenticeshop and its mission to continue building people. 

“Bad boats are built, surely, but not many of them. It can be argued that a bad boat cannot survive tide and wave and hence is not worth building, but the same might be said of a bad automobile on a rough road. Apparently the builder of a boat acts under a compulsion greater than himself. Ribs are strong by definition and feeling. Keels are sound, planking truly chosen and set. A man builds the best of himself into a boat—builds many of the unconscious memories of his ancestors.”— John Steinbeck, The Log from the Sea of Cortez (1951)