Week 11 of the Girls Boat Project brought big winds and continued excitement to be working together in the shop and picking up where we left off with the Skunk Island Skiff and individual tool tray projects. We have two more meetings until holiday break, so we set goals for what we aim to accomplish by the end of the year and worked together to progress.

We met up in the classroom and enjoyed our trusty snack of carrots, peanut butter, goldfish AND nutella and discussed the school day and the board question, “What is something you learned this year that you will use next year?” Surprisingly, all of the girls responded with skills gained in the shop while being a part of Girls Boat Project – using the band saw, learning how to use a combination square, setting a layout with dividers, and using a Japanese hand pull saw. It is truly awesome to see their familiarity and proper use of the tools and shop space flourish with every GBP meeting.

Before we headed to the shop, we went into the meeting room in the administration building for some games – super fun team building games! We started with a circle stretch – where we choose different stretches and go around in a circle practicing them. Then we played last detail partner game, where we get into pairs, face one another and observe, then turn around and quickly change something about our appearance in a five second countdown. When we turn back around, the goal is to point out what is different about our partner! Some socks were pushed down, glasses flipped upside down, shoes untied, and hair rearranged. It was a good exercise foster feeling comfortable and observant with one another. Next we got out a few long lines of rope, connected the ends with square knots, and made three different sized circles on the floor. Chrissy asked questions like, “How do you feel about spiders?” and “How comfortable do you feel being there for a friend?” and we each chose the corresponding circle to how we felt – small circle in the middle meant ‘very comfortable’, middle ring meant ‘somewhat comfortable’, and the large outer ring meant ‘not comfortable or do not agree’. There were many varied answers, but when it came to questions about being there for a friend or feeling comfortable listening to a friend, everyone was huddled towards the middle. All of these exercises helped us get to know one another, and we giggled a lot, too!

We headed down to the boat shop where we were met by K and Marty, ready to give us a chiseling demo with a guide block and clamps. This process is a step needed in completing the tool trays, and a great skill set to have. With our Skunk Island Skiff, the goal for the day was to install the transom with Sikaflex solution and fasteners, do the layout for the chines, and hopefully install them as well. On the individual bench projects, some went from starting the process to use the grooving planes, cut out half laps, and some completed them. It is really helpful to have people at different phases of their projects, because with every week the girls get more confident helping one another with different techniques.

Next week is our last week of the year! So we all agreed to celebrate our progress and camaraderie by having a holiday party- filled with snacks, games, and conversation of hopes for the year to come.