‘Classroom on Wheels’ Teaches Woodworking Skills to Young People

Handing power tools over to young students could result in some disastrous¹ situations. But if those tools are combined with effective supervision² and teaching, the students can learn valuable new skills and might even find a new career path.

One such program, in Washington, D.C., aims to teach woodworking and finished carpentry skills to teens and young adults. It includes a woodshop, completely housed inside a truck, that acts as a kind of "classroom on wheels."

The Mobile Woodshop program was started by the nonprofit Zenith Community Arts Foundation. It is currently based at Ballou STAY Opportunity Academy in Washington, D.C. Ballou STAY is an alternative education program that offers students job training and has a high school graduation program for adults over age 23.

Margery Goldberg, Zenith's director, said the goal of the woodshop is "to get people jobs." Goldberg is an artist, wood sculptor³ and longtime member of the D.C. art community. She had long dreamed of creating a mobile woodshop to assist students. That dream finally came true in 2020, when the city gave her a large grant for the program.

The program at Ballou is called a Pre-Apprenticeship⁵ Carpentry Training Program. The subjects and skills taught in the class are similar to those offered by a local carpenters' union that also supports the program. Students at Ballou can learn the same skills as a beginning carpenter would. These include cutting, marking, measuring, nailing and how to use different tools.

The class textbook provides step-by-step instructions on how to make things like simple wooden birdhouses, to more complex wooden containers and objects. The truck is equipped with all the instructional materials and tools necessary to operate as a complete mobile classroom. Mobile workstations are also available so students can work on projects outside the truck.

If students pass the class, they can seek to enter the union apprenticeship program. Instead of a usual four-year apprenticeship, graduates of the mobile woodshop can finish in less time.

Joe Largess is a teacher at the woodshop. He said much of the class centers on teaching students "soft skills." These are skills that are desirable in all jobs, such as teamwork, having a strong work ethic⁶, being able to follow instructions and arriving to work on time. Students also learn basic skills like math and how to read a ruler.

The union wants "people who are employment ready," said Austin Travis, the woodshop's other teacher. "And that's a lot more soft skills than just being able to put all that stuff together," he added.

Ryan is a student at the mobile woodshop. Before entering the class, he had some experience working with wood and tools. He had even helped a family member build a fence around a house.

"That's why I started in the class, because I like working with my hands and I already knew how to work with electrical tools," Ryan said. "I wanted to give myself a chance to get better at it."

Ryan said he sees another benefit to learning woodworking: "You can sell some of this stuff and make money for it."

Building-related jobs are currently in high demand across the United States. One study from the Home Builders Institute found that 2.2 million jobs will be needed by 2024 to keep up with building demand. And, the U.S. Bureau for Labor⁷ Statistics estimates that more than 89,000 openings for carpenters will be created each year in the U.S. over the next 10 years.

Goldberg believes woodshop programs can help prepare the next generation of woodworkers. She said other schools in Washington have expressed interest in the mobile woodshop and the program might be expanded in the coming years.

Largess said the class at Ballou seeks "to help some people who wouldn't have the chance to even get into the apprenticeship program, and give them a leg up." That, he added, can "hopefully help them with a better future."

Words in This Story

carpenter — n. a person whose job is to make or fix wooden objects or wooden parts of buildings

alternative — adj. not usual or traditional

sculptor — n. a person who makes sculptures, a piece of art that is made by carving⁸ or molding clay, stone, metal, etc.

grant — n. an amount of money that is given to someone by a government, a company, etc., to be used for a particular purpose

nail — n. a long, thin piece of metal that is sharp at one end and flat at the other end and that is used chiefly to attach things to wood

apprentice⁴ — n. a person who learns a job or skill by working for a fixed⁹ period of time for someone who is very good at that job or skill

ethic — n. rules of behavior based on ideas about what is morally good and bad

benefit — n. a good or helpful result or effect

leg up — adj. to give someone an advantage over others

1 disastrous   

adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的

参考例句：

• The heavy rainstorm caused a disastrous flood.暴雨成灾。
• Her investment had disastrous consequences.She lost everything she owned.她的投资结果很惨，血本无归。

2 supervision   

n.监督，管理

参考例句：

• The work was done under my supervision.这项工作是在我的监督之下完成的。
• The old man's will was executed under the personal supervision of the lawyer.老人的遗嘱是在律师的亲自监督下执行的。

3 sculptor   

n.雕刻家，雕刻家

参考例句：

• A sculptor forms her material.雕塑家把材料塑造成雕塑品。
• The sculptor rounded the clay into a sphere.那位雕塑家把黏土做成了一个球状。

4 apprentice   

n.学徒，徒弟

参考例句：

• My son is an apprentice in a furniture maker's workshop.我的儿子在一家家具厂做学徒。
• The apprentice is not yet out of his time.这徒工还没有出徒。

5 apprenticeship   

n.学徒身份；学徒期

参考例句：

• She was in the second year of her apprenticeship as a carpenter. 她当木工学徒已是第二年了。
• He served his apprenticeship with Bob. 他跟鲍勃当学徒。

6 ethic   

n.道德标准，行为准则

参考例句：

• They instilled the work ethic into their children.他们在孩子们的心中注入了职业道德的理念。
• The connotation of education ethic is rooted in human nature's mobility.教育伦理的内涵根源于人本性的变动性。

7 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

8 carving   

n.雕刻品，雕花

参考例句：

• All the furniture in the room had much carving.房间里所有的家具上都有许多雕刻。
• He acquired the craft of wood carving in his native town.他在老家学会了木雕手艺。

9 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。