Great Lakes Boat Building School announces donation matching program
CEDARVILLE — The Great Lakes Boat Building School is raising money for an expansion that will increase the amount of students they can enroll and their educational experience.
Since 2005, the Great Lakes Boat Building School has been teaching people the skills needed for various jobs in and around the Great Lakes.
Because of the size of the school, the program graduates a relatively small class of 24 students every year.
The school has said that 100 percent of its graduates have successful job placement in their field, and many have jobs lined up before they have even finished the program. Because of the increasingly high demand of students from this program to join the workforce, the school has begun an expansion program that will double its class size.
With a grant of $2.7 million from the Economic Development Administration's CARES act, the school aims to add a new marine electronics program, as well as a new class building. This expansion will bring the number of graduates per year to 50, with plans of future expansion to increase that number to 100 if this expansion is successful.
More: Great Lakes Boat Building School plans for expansion with state grant
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On Dec. 1. 2021, the school launched the "Come Aboard, Launch Careers" campaign to raise the $1.1 million necessary to match the CARES act grant and fund the rest of the expansion. Currently, the school has raised approximately 80 percent of the $1.1 million needed.
To reach the goal, the school has begun a donation matching program. Donors who donate $1,000 or more will have their names engraved on the planks that will make up the boardwalk and dock in the expansion.
The new boardwalk and docking facility will provide students with direct access to the water and serve as an area for outdoor learning and testing. It will also be used as a common area and gathering place for students and community members.
The dock will also be used to give students direct access to the water and boats on the water and will become an integral part of the school curriculum.
"One of the things that we teach our students that's pretty unique is how to dock a boat, how to get it in and out of the water," said Tom Coates, the school’s director of development. "It's a place where our students can actually work on boats and launch a boat. So it's basically like an outdoor classroom for our students."
For every $1,000 plank donation, a local Cedarville family, who wishes to remain anonymous, will match their donations up to $50,000.
With 100 donations, the program will be able to fund the entire new dock and boardwalk.
If the donation program is a success, the school will begin construction on the dock area in early 2024 and the dock will be available for student use in the spring semester of 2025.
"It's a great way to to help us and help us get this project completed and allow us to educate more students," said Coates.
Donations of any size can be made through the Great Lakes Boat Building School website.
Contact Brendan Wiesner: BWiesner@Sooeveningnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Sault News: Great Lakes Boat Building School announces donation matching program
