From planks to pride: The local program building boats, confidence and character

The Menomonee River isn’t your typical classroom. Then again, the group of 10- to 12-year-olds who spent a week along its shoreline weren’t your typical class.

These students, and some older teens, were part of a summer program from All Hands Boatworks, a local nonprofit teaching youth — and adults — about the craft of wooden boatbuilding, Milwaukee’s rivers and the Great Lakes. But the learning extends well beyond the water.

“When we’re building this boat, it’s not about building a boat,” longtime volunteer Trent Myers said. "You expand their sense of what they’re capable of achieving.”

Podcast host Kim Shine takes you to the river, and inside the weeklong experience includes building birdhouses and kayaking on the river before culminating with a dedication ceremony and boat launch.

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Episode host: Kim Shine

Uniquely Milwaukee is sponsored by the Milwaukee Public Library and supported by our Radio Milwaukee members.