This week arrived with an extra hour of daylight and a foot of snow to the Mad River Valley, and our days are longer and brighter as a result. In the woodshop, our Woodworking Certificate spent their eighth week learning the ins and outs of cabinetry while building a set for one of our instructors.  In prior weeks, they have completed design challenges that constrained their materials and time, forcing them to think creatively and problem-solve as they go. The students then moved into advanced joinery techniques by building a bookcase with sliding dovetails (which you make yourself in our weeklong course in August!). 

After the students complete their cabinet set, they’ll spend the last three weeks undertaking a final design/build project without constraints. Historically, this is where we’ve seen students blossom into unleashing the full potential of their craft and creativity. It’s an exciting time to watch them apply their learning to endless possibilities and create some exceptional pieces of furniture, functional art, musical instruments, storage, and more. Join us for our Woodworking Certificate graduation on Saturday, April 8th, open to the public at  6 pm. We'd love to share with you the hard work and impressive portfolio of personal projects from this talented bunch.

In the design studio, our first Home Design/Build students of the year are creating intricate and engaging residential designs. They’ve broken out the modeling clay, chipboard, and watercolors to engineer beautiful and thoughtful representations of their ideas. ADUs, cabins, dream homes, and hypothetical dwellings lie around in miniature form among the drafting tables. At the airport hangar, students are learning the building blocks of carpentry to build a 200 sq ft cabin, including some built-in shelves affectionately being referred to as "junk beds." The walls are up, and the rafter trusses are next. Its been a calm and productive few weeks with this group, and their energy and dedication to the process is inspiring. 

Online, our Certificate in Building Science and Net-Zero Design kicked off this week. We have a wonderful group this year of natural builders, weatherization professionals, and homeowners learning the most up-to-date information in the ever-changing and adapting industry of net-zero design and energy efficiency.

Next up on campus: our very first Sauna Construction course! Full-time faculty member and architect Anastasia Laurenzi has been hard at work on a unique and creatively functional design - a classic Yestermorrow project. This session is full, but we have space in the next session in July. You won't want to miss it!