By Laura Caldwell, Expeditionary Programs Manager
At Lake Champlain Maritime Museum on Friday May 23, we launched the newest boat in Lake Champlain: Ruth M. Kennedy. Built by local high school students, this boat is the culmination of seven months of work for students from the Addison Central Program (ACP) and Middlebury High School (MUHS) as part of our innovative Champlain Longboats program. These students came to the Museum’s boat shop two to three days a week to learn how to build from tree to boat, getting hands-on experience in woodworking, communication, math, and teamwork in our active boat shop. In this program, students also got time to experience other hands-on activities here at the Museum to learn about the ecology, history, and culture of the Lake Champlain watershed.
This year’s boat built by students is a 25’ Whitehall-style four-oared wooden rowing gig. It was sponsored by Peter Beckett and named in honor of his great aunt Ruth Kennedy, the founder and owner of a trucking company in New York City in the early 1900s. Peter Beckett is a longtime supporter of the museum and boat shop volunteer, whose commitment to empowering youth has been invaluable in making the boatbuilding program possible.
Launch day for boat building students is a truly special day at the Maritime Museum. Students were joined by an audience of their family, Museum staff, and community members to celebrate their accomplishment. Each student got the chance to give a presentation sharing the technical skills they learned, their favorite moments, and the big lessons crafting a boat taught them.
After the presentations, the audience paraded to the water with the students towed in their new boat. It was, and always is, a proud, exciting, and unforgettable moment for all the boat builders, family members, and the educators. The boat was launched in Lake Champlain for the first time after a blessing from all the students and they got to take turns rowing it on its maiden voyage.
The Ruth M. Kennedy will become a part of our fleet of boats for our youth and adult rowers and education programs, continuing to serve the community for years to come. From boat building education to on-water experiences, the Champlain Longboats program fuels our full community of students and adults with alternative education, rowing practices and races, environmental education, and expeditionary programs.
We are so proud of the hard work student boatbuilders put into this boat and we’re also grateful for all the staff, volunteers, and donors who help make this program possible every year.
Learn more about the Museum’s Champlain Longboats program at www.lcmm.org/champlain-longboats-program. Many thanks to Buzz Kuhns for photographing this event.
