July 2009 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 15.
YOUNG WOMEN BUILD UNDA AT THE COMPASS PROJECT
PORTLAND — What do you picture when plained 12-year-old boatbuilder Samantha
you think of a boat building shop? You prob- Todd. “And it’s more fun to work with your
ably imagine men in respirators laying up friends,” adds Theo Dean. Teaching the
fiberglass, or maybe bearded old-timers with importance of teamwork and careful work-
hand planes. That’s not what you’ll find, manship is one of the core tenets of the
however, at the Compass Project on a Thurs- Compass Project’s mission, and this was
day afternoon. The Portland-based non- certainly a lesson the girls took to heart.
profit piloted an all-girls boatbuilding group The program also had an arts element,
this spring, which launched its twelve-foot where girls practiced many of the skills they
Bevins Skiff on Friday, June 12
th
. would need to transfer to work on their boat.
The group was made up of eight girls “Artists use the same skills as boatbuilders,
between the ages of 9 and 12, who met weekly
Continued on Page 18.
from March until June. Their instructors,
AmeriCorps volun-
teers Margaret Mount-
castle and Jodi Carpen-
ter, were excited to
teach the first girls-
only project. “This is
Sophia Sturtevant learns to use the bandsaw.
my first all-girls’
project. It was nice to
work with such a detail-
oriented group,” Car-
penter explained.
Mountcastle was also
enthusiastic about the
young boatbuilding
team: “I loved working
with such a capable
group of girls who
taught me new things
each week.”
Although com-
pleting a twelve-foot
skiff might seem a
daunting task for such
a young group, the
girls learned that shar-
ing the tasks made the
Proud boatbuilders on launch day!
job go quickly. “If you
From left to right: Margaret Mountcastle, Jodi Carpenter, Elissa Armstrong (back), Alexa Patterson,
work as a team, you can
Becca Follansbee, Samantha Todd, Sofia Donisvitch, Veronica Todd, Brianna Keliehor, Theo Dean,
build a boat fast,” ex-
Sophia Sturtevant, Eleanor Graham
■
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