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February 1, 2026

Centreville Spy

Nonpartisan and Education-based News for Centreville

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Washington College Commencement Recap

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“Under a bright spring sky, Washington College celebrated the 209 members of the graduating Class of 2025. The event was a vibrant culmination of years of hard work, discovery, and community building, filled with inspiring speeches and heartfelt congratulations. While the broader political and economic landscape cast a shadow of concern for the first class to have attended courses in-person all four years since the Covid-19 pandemic, the day was primarily marked by joyous celebration of academic achievement and the promise of new beginnings.”

For a complete recap of the commencement proceedings from Sunday as well as Jonathan Karl’s keynote address, go here.

(Text and images form Washington College News & Media Relations)

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Bay-Wise – It’s All Connected By Nancy Taylor Robson

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Nancy Robson, Joan Berwick, Dona Rodrick, Secethia Davis, Gale Jayne, Joy Mayfield

There was a silver lining to the Charlie Foxtrot that was Covid. People discovered gardening. Even those who had never tried to grow herbs (never mind what kind) in college, flocked to garden centers and bought a plant or 20. ‘Victory gardens!’ the people said. ‘Let us eat vegetables!’

But it was more than a culinary impulse. Gardening – cultivating a plant that silently absorbs our angst and returns beauty, fragrance, butterflies, and maybe even salad – is psychologically nourishing.

It can also positively impact water quality.

“Homeowners are paying a little more attention to how they can adapt practices to help the Bay,” says Rachel Rhodes, Extension Coordinator for Queen Anne’s County, MD.

What we do – or don’t do – on land profoundly affects the health of the Bay, so acting on that knowledge is, as Oprah would say, HUGE.

Bay-Wise, the University of Maryland Extension stewardship program, designed by Senior Agent and Educator Wanda MacLachlan (now retired), offers a straightforward plan.

“I wanted to create a holistic approach to individual land management,” MacLachlan explains.

Key to the program is the Bay-Wise Yardstick, which has 61 possible steps broken into eight categories. Plus, steps taken in one category often spill benefits into others. For example, the native shrubs, trees, ground covers, and grasses you’ve planted to Control Stormwater Runoff and prevent erosion also act as shelter, habitat, and food source, so they Encourage Wildlife. While the Plant Wisely category urges using wind-breaking evergreens on the north and deciduous trees on the south to cut down on energy use, they also provide habitat and draw pollinators and birds (natural Integrated Pest Management) that benefit your victory garden.

Encouraging wildlife also offers enormous entertainment. Seeing a troop of ten cedar waxwings pass a Winterberry fruit (Ilex verticillata) from one bird to the next on a branch or watching a fat baby robin test his barely-fledged wings while his nest-bound siblings shout, “Go on! I dare ya!” at him, is like a homegrown Discovery channel.

Joan Berwick with her Bay-Wise landscape sign

Controlling stormwater runoff by keeping water on your property simultaneously prevents water pollution and saves on your utility bills since you use less water for the landscape and less electricity for the well water pump. Adopted broadly, the cost benefits are multiplied.

Twenty-seven years ago, Portland OR was threatened with a lawsuit for polluting the Willamette River. When they realized that there was a limit to upsizing the infrastructure, they adopted a greener approach, including green roofs, green streets, rain gardens, bioswales, and asking residents to disconnect their downspouts from the storm drain system. The measures significantly diminished runoff and resulted in approximately $65 million in municipal savings.

In Charles County, proof of Bay-Wise certification reduces the county watershed fee by 50% on the property tax bill, acknowledgment of the environmental and cost savings.

Bay-Wise certification – once a property reaches 36 inches’ (points) worth of steps on the Yardstick – bestows a nifty little sign to encourage the neighbors.

“I had my yard in Harford County certified in 2018,” says Master Gardener Joy Mayfield, who became a Bay-Wise certifier when she moved to Kent County. “I had such pride in putting that sign out!”

“It’s an amazing program,” says Rose Markham, Chair for the Charles County committee. “Once people get into it, they really love it!”

Master Gardener Eileen Clements hopes to become a Bay-Wise certifier when the next round of classes starts. Her reasons are both pragmatic and communal.

“Because we live so close to the Bay, and it’s such a resource, it’s better for everybody,” she says. “It’s the livelihood for fishing, for tourism, recreation, and whatever we can do to keep it healthy is important to do. I am a big believer in ‘fix your little world and help someone else to fix theirs.’ It’s a domino effect.”

Properties are certified as Bay-Wise via a (free) consulting visit by several trained volunteers. They walk around a property, listening to the owner’s hopes, goals, and concerns, while examining the lay of the land, the exposure, soil type, plants, wildlife.

“It was the most exhilarating day in my garden and yard,” says Joan Berwick, who lives outside of Crumpton. Berwick has left part of her woodsy property wild and has lushly planted another portion with natives. “I had always wanted a yard that had paths through the woods, that was natural, that was near a stream, and I wanted my landscaping to blend into the environment. Native plants were the way to keep things simple and easy and gave me great results with less effort.”

Part of Joan’s garden (you can’t hear the birdsong, but it’s there).

Prior to the consultation, Berwick had downloaded the Bay-Wise Yardstick from the UMD Extension website to figure out how close she was to certification. (You get 5 inches for simply NOT fertilizing the lawn!). Berwick’s property had a total score of 67 inches.

“It was fun, and I learned some things,” she says. But confirmation of her vision was what she enjoyed most. “What I was doing was valued by other people, and that’s not always the case when you do more natural plantings.”

Mayfield’s Harford County certification experience has guided her own approach to Bay-Wise visits on this side of the Bay.

“It was their tact,” she says. “They were so diplomatic in saying what needed to go, and I didn’t know what I needed to put in place.”

Their guidance helped. Here in Kent County, Mayfield has done several Bay-Wise visits, which are also fun for the certifiers since it’s also an opportunity to get to know the property owner a bit. Plus, the certifiers themselves often share different pieces of knowledge, which enhances the experience for everyone.

“I learned so much that last time,” Mayfield says about a visit to a property behind the Chestertown library. “I love the collaborative aspect of the visits.”

https://extension.umd.edu/programs/environment-natural-resources/program-areas/home-and-garden-information-center/master-gardener-program/about-program/bay-wise-program/

https://extension.umd.edu/sites/extension.umd.edu/files/2021-02/Bay-Wise%20Maryland%20Yardstick%20Landscape%20Gardens.pdf

https://extension.umd.edu/programs/environment-natural-resources/program-areas/bay-wise-program/

Native Plants for Wildlife and Conservation Landscaping

https://dnr.maryland.gov/criticalarea/Documents/chesapeakenatives.pdf

 

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Bookplate Author Event: Henry Corrigan, “Somewhere Quiet, Full of Light”

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The Bookplate is continuing their 2025 season of author lectures on May 21st with author Henry Corrigan for a 6pm event at The Kitchen & Pub at The Imperial Hotel. He will be discussing his new queer thriller; Somewhere Quiet, Full of Light. 

Perfection has its price. Eric Tillman is looking for a way out. Born into a poor family, the once starving artist has spent his life dreaming of a home where his kids could escape screaming landlords and the sting of poverty. So, when his husband Mike, a house-flipper with a jeweller’s eye for abandoned places, discovers a strange, but exciting old house in upstate New York, it feels like the perfect answer to all their prayers. But once the family moves in, it isn’t long before Eric learns that some chances are too costly to take. For this house has standards it lives by, expectations which must be met. And on the long, relentless road between perfection and salvation…some doors lead only to ruin.

“…the haunted house story of the modern age, told with the deft, artistic pen of a literary titan in the making” 

~Elton Skelter, author of F**k You, Mary Sue

“This gripping supernatural tale illustrates the significant differences between houses and homes, but it also shows how deceitful and dark such places can be.”

~James G. Carlson, author of The Eleventh Door and Red Falls

Henry Corrigan is a husband and father, bisexual creative, and emerging author who dreams of writing every kind of story. His debut horror novel, A Man in Pieces, won the Silver Medal from Literary Titan and was shortlisted for the Top 25 Indie Books of the Year. He is a member of the Horror Writers Association and the admin for the Horror Writers Collaborative online. An avid reader, Henry started writing poetry in middle school but it wasn’t until he started writing erotica in high school that he really learned the mechanics of writing. What started out as private stories and love letters, soon became publications in anthologies. Henry works as a teacher in Baltimore, Maryland.

For more event details contact The Bookplate at 410-778-4167 or [email protected]. These events are free and open to the public, but reservations are recommended. The Bookplate will continue their 2025 event series on June 11th. Author Chris Filstrup will be discussing his book, The Turban: A History from East to West. Copies will be available at the shop before and after the event. The Kitchen & Pub at The Imperial is located at 208 High Street in Chestertown, Maryland.

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More Than 40 Great Ways to Celebrate Maryland Makers at Maryland Crafted: Centreville

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With a new name, an exclusive VIP Experience, and a brewery tour, Maryland Crafted: Centreville offers guests over 40 great ways to kick off June. Now in its eighth year, Maryland Crafted: Centreville – formerly known as DrinkMaryland: Centreville – will be held on Saturday, June 7 from 12 to 5 p.m., on Lawyers Row and Broadway.

Hosted by the Town of Centreville and the Maryland Wineries Association, the free event offers guests an opportunity to meet over 40 Maryland makers and experience some of the state’s finest craft beverages, artisan crafts, festival food, and live music with laid-back Eastern Shore hospitality.

Attendees age 21+ with proper ID can purchase tasting passes for $25 in advance and $30 on-site (at the Broadway and N. Commerce Street check-in tent) to sample wine, beer, mead, and spirits, purchase by the glass, or buy bottles to enjoy at home.

“Our new Maryland Crafted name reflects how this event continues to evolve and offer our guests some of the best craft beverages, food and artisan wares Maryland offers. We look forward to this being our best year yet,” said Carol D’Agostino, Centreville Main Street manager.

 New behind-the-scenes VIP Experience

New this year is a pre-event VIP Experience at the Bull & Goat Brewery, just step away from the main event. Jake Heimbuch, left, the Bull, and Jeff Putman, the Goat, will host a behind the scenes brewery tour, followed by four guided tastings with food pairings.

New this year is an exclusive pre-event VIP Experience featuring a behind-the-scenes brewery tour at Centreville’s Bull & Goat Brewery by owners Jake Heimbuch and Jeff Putman. The experience also includes a guided tasting of four craft beverages with food pairings, led by Laurie Forster, The Wine Coach, event emcee, and one of America’s leading wine experts.

To maximize the experience, only 30 VIP tickets are available to those 21+ with proper ID. VIP Experience tickets are $60 per person and must be purchased in advance, and include tasting passes for the main event. For more information and updates, visit Maryland Crafted: Centreville on Facebook. Tasting passes and VIP Experience tickets are on sale now at marylandcrafted.com.

“We’re thrilled to again partner with the Town of Centreville on this eighth event,” said Janna Howley, Executive Director of the Maryland Wineries Association. “We always enjoy showcasing the range of products that our participating beer, wine, spirits, and mead producers have to offer, and helping Centreville host a vibrant community gathering.”

 Craft beverage participants

At press time, this year’s craft alcohol producers include: 1623 Brewing, Baltimore Spirits Co., Butterfly Spirits, Bull & Goat Brewery, Checkerspot Brewing, Chesapeake Manor Vineyard, Clear Skies Meadery, Clyopatra Winery & Vineyard, Crow Vineyard & Winery, Ego Organic Vodka, Fordham Lee Distillery, Gray Wolf Spirits, Layton’s Chance Winery, Lyon Rum, McClintock Distilling, Oliver Brewing Co., Pathfinder Farm Distillery, Rosie Cheeks Distillery, Sandbox Brewhouse, Shmidt Spirits, and Tenth Ward Distilling Company.

 

Back by popular demand, The Chesapeake Sons are returning for their third consecutive year. The band will perform from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.

Chesapeake Sons and The G Method to perform

Making their Maryland Crafted: Centreville debut this year will be The G Method with Guthrie Matthews on guitar/vocals. The G Method performs from 2 to 3 p.m.

This year’s main stage features live music by the Chesapeake Sons from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. and The G Method from 2 to 3 p.m. Led by frontman Jason Morton, the Chesapeake Sons blends convicted vocals and smart lyrics to produce a unique mash-up of Southern rock, rock, blues, country, gospel, and even a little bit of psychedelia.

Guthrie Matthews and The G Method will take festivalgoers on a musical journey through diverse genres from soul to metal, filled with funky grooves, powerful vocals, and dynamic melodies. Rounding out the stage entertainment will be Laurie Forster, The Wine Coach, who will perform an interactive tasting demonstration from 3:30 to 4 p.m.

Free parking available

While free on-street parking is available, attendees are encouraged to use the free event parking lots which will be clearly marked and include the following:

  • Powell Street Parking Lot: Behind the Goodwill Fire Company. Turn right at the Everest Mart (on the corner of Liberty and Broadway) and right again onto Powell Street. Parking is under the Centreville Water Tower.
  • Queen Anne’s County Health Department Parking Lot: This parking is behind the 206 N. Commerce Street building and accessible via Banjo Lane.
  • Municipal Parking Lot: This lot is at the corner of Happy Lady Lane and Water Street, across from the Centreville Post Office at 202 E Water St.

For event and sponsor information, contact Carol D’Agostino, Centreville Main Street manager at (410) 758-1180, ext. 17 or [email protected]. Juried artisan interest forms are available at centrevillemdevents.com.

 

 

 

 

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The Musical, The Bridges at Madison County at Church Hill Theatre from June 6-12

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Church Hill Theatre invites Delmarva audiences to its production of the outstanding musical version of the beloved The Bridges of Madison County.  First, the 1992 novel by Robert James Waller sat atop the New York Times best-seller list for three years.  Then the hit film, starring Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep, was nominated for multiple awards and grossed almost $200 Million in worldwide sales. Two decades later, the musical version of The Bridges of Madison County moved to Broadway, with a book by Marsha Norman and music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown, who won Tony Awards for Best Original Score and Best Orchestration.

CHT’s production, directed by JW Ruth, will appeal to both long-time “Bridges” fans and new audiences with its glorious music, talented cast, and timeless story of love, sacrifice and life-altering choices. The show opens on Friday, June 6 and runs three weekends, closing on Sunday, June 22.

The musical begins in 1965, when Francesca Johnson, an Italian war-bride and now for almost twenty years an Iowa farm wife, anticipates a few days of solitude while her husband and children participate in a national 4-H show. By chance, she meets and helps a National Geographic photographer, Robert Kincaid, who is on assignment to take pictures of Iowa’s famous covered bridges. Their relationship grows and deepens as they discover shared interests, culminating in a passionate affair.

Torn between her love for Robert and love and responsibility for her family, Francesca faces an impossible choice. Cherishing their brief time together, both accept the reality of their situations. Years pass and Francesca enjoys life with her family and friends, watching her children become successful adults.  Robert, too, has moved on with his own career. Both ponder what might have been. Neither has any regret for the love they shared.

The star-crossed lovers Francesca and Robert are played by Erin Bradley and Matt Rein.  Max Haagen is Francesca’s husband, Bud Johnson. Everett Brownley and Riley Rosati portray the young Johnson children; Ian Stotts and Kathleen Cummings reprise them as adults.

Heather Joyce Byers, Herb Ziegler and Shannon Carter take on important supporting roles as the Johnsons’ friends and neighbors.

There is no traditional chorus in this musical, but ensemble players add to the story and enrich the musicality. Luisa Forger, Natalie Hagan, and Maya McGrory portray radio and state fair singers. Tiffany Ayres, Trevor Ayres, Carly Mourlas, Jordan Leoncini and Ava Khamvongsa are friends, neighbors, and witnesses to the power of love.

As in all Church Hill Theatre shows, a strong production team started work before rehearsals began. The sets, light design, and live orchestra—augmenting a truly talented cast—make this a memorable addition to the theatre’s tradition of exemplary summer musicals.

The Bridges of Madison County will run weekends from June 6-22, with performances at 7:30 pm on Fridays and Saturdays and 2 pm on Sundays. Tickets are available on the CHT website: churchhilltheatre.org or by calling the CHT office at 410-556-6003 Monday through Friday.

 

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Bookplate Author Event: Poet Rachel Trousdale

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Rachel Trousdale

The Bookplate is continuing their 2025 season of author lectures on May 14th with poet Rachel Trousdale for a 6pm event at The Kitchen & Pub at The Imperial Hotel. She will be discussing her new book; Five-Paragraph Essay on the Body-Mind Problem. Trousdale’s book- an inventive, poignant, and witty collection that speaks to the intricacies of love, both domestic and wild- is the winner of the Cardinal Poetry Prize.

“A rare gift in art is directness: to turn a clear, unsentimental gaze on love and grief in all their variations, with no smokey or mysterioso evasions. Almost as valuable is meaningful surprise, the stunned laughter of recognition even if the subject for marvel is loss. The heartfelt, unpredictable poems of Rachel Trousdale attain that kind of discovery.”

~Robert Pinsky, Judge, 2024 Cardinal Poetry Prize

“You can’t literally make modern poems with a laser, nor comedy with a magnifying glass, but if you could and you got it all just right—accurate, even-tempered, and delighted by life’s bizarre turns—you’d get something like this wise, sharp-witted and generally exceptional debut, by a poet who knows what to do when you fall in love as well as what to do when the world spins fast enough to throw you sideways and you have to hold on, for your kids, to your kids. How is a baby like ‘a brood of termites?’ ‘What have we taught our son?’ ‘Where are our robot sharks?’ What if a yeti visited a mature, equable, family-friendly Auden? If any poem, any life, amounts (as the poet says) to ‘an incomplete experiment,’ this one’s got lovely results, a thesis, an antithesis, and six kinds of love: filial, amorous, amicable, intellectual, maternal, and one that remains as an exercise for the reader. ‘I Swear This Is Not Intended as a Back-Handed Compliment,’ one poem declares, and neither is this self-conscious sentence: you can trust these technically gifted sonnets, prose poems, sestinas, poesie concrète, punchlines and acrobatic sentences to take you anywhere, and then (as the poet also says) to bring us home.”    ~Stephanie Burt, author of We are Mermaids and Don’t Read Poetry

Rachel Trousdale is a professor of English at Framingham State University. Her poems have appeared in The Nation, The Yale Review, Diagram, and other journals, as well as a chapbook, Antiphonal Fugue for Marx Brothers, Elephant, and Slide Trombone. Her scholarly work includes Humor, Empathy, and Community in Twentieth-Century American Poetry and Nabokov, Rushdie, and the Transnational Imagination.

For more event details contact The Bookplate at 410-778-4167 or [email protected]. These events are free and open to the public, but reservations are recommended. The Bookplate will continue their 2025 event series on May 21st. Author Henry Corrigan will be discussing his queer horror novel, Somewhere Quiet, Full of Light. Copies will be available at the shop before and after the event. The Kitchen & Pub at The Imperial is located at 208 High Street in Chestertown, Maryland.

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Masterful By Jamie Kirkpatrick

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I admit it: I spent most of last weekend watching The Masters. I assume most everyone is familiar with The Masters—the first of the golfing world’s four annual “major” tournaments. It takes place at the Augusta National Golf Club, a storied property in Georgia, and it comes at a time when those of us who live “up north” are desperate for spring. The Masters more than delivers spring in all its color and glory. Each of the eighteen holes on the property are named for a tree or flowering shrub, and the lush green fairways are always a promise of better weather ahead. Add to that splendid vernal picture, the history of the game, our nostalgia for its past champions, and the soothing theme music written by Dave Loggins that seems to waft thought the tall Georgia pines that line the fairways, and you find yourself transported to another, more peaceful world, a place without tariffs or even a hint of malice. It doesn’t last forever, but it is a welcome respite from the din and constant chaos of the moment.

And this year, there was another compelling storyline to The Masters. Rory McIlroy, an Ulsterman and one of golf’s most popular superstars, was on a quest to complete the Career ‘Grand Slam,’ a victory in each of golf’s four major tournaments. The Career Grand Slam is the holy grail of professional golf; only five players had ever achieved the prize: Gene Sarazan, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, and Tiger Woods. By 2014, Rory had three of the four majors under his belt, but the fourth—The Masters—has eluded him for the past eleven years. He had come tantalizingly close, only to fail at the last. Would he ever finally reach the summit?

I don’t want to bore you with the details leading up to Sunday’s final showdown. Rory had played well, and at the start of the final day, he had a two-shot lead over Bryson DeChambeau. Other notables—Scottie Scheffler, Ludvig Åberg, Patrick Reed, and Justin Rose—were well within striking distance. Would this finally be Rory’s year, or would he stumble again? We would know soon enough.

When Rory doubled bogeyed the first hole on Sunday and his playing partner Bryson made par, there was suddenly a tie atop the leader board. And there was a feeling in my throat, a lump, that fear of failure that haunt us all. Some people may find golf boring or elitist or both, but the final round of this year’s Masters had all the toppings of a consummate Greek tragedy. The gods on Olympus were once again conspiring to thwart Rory’s dream, denying this mere mortal his dream of joining golf’s pantheon. And even worse: they would make Brash Bryson the cupbearer of defeat.

But that didn’t happen. DeChambeau crashed and burned, while Rory was all grit and resilience. He rose, he fell, and rose again. And on the final hole of regulation play, when only a putt of a few feet stood between him and victory, he fell again. He looked painfully drained, maybe even defeated.

And now Rory is in a sudden-death playoff with Justin Rose, a worthy opponent who had seen his own share of ups and downs over the previous three days. At the end of his round, Rose sunk a difficult twenty-foot putt to reach 11 under par. Twenty minutes later, when Rory missed his par putt on 18, there was another tie atop the leader board. A playoff, sudden-death; the gods could not have written a better script.

On the first playoff hole, both men hit commendable drives and then even better approach shots. Rose had about twelve feet for his birdie; Rory was inside him, only five feet away. Rose’s putt just missed; he tapped in for par. Now it was Rory and history, face to face. The nerves, the lifelong dream, all the hard work and disappointments along the way. But then, with a single sure stroke, Rory’s putt dropped in the hole and it was over. Rory won. He dropped to his knees and buried his face in his hands. It all came pouring out and now there are six members of the Career Grand Slam Club.

Golf is a silly game. If you ever want a good laugh, watch Robin Williams’ monologue on the genesis of golf in Scotland. It’s profane, it’s ribald, it’s maniacal, but it will make you laugh until you cry. Just like the game itself.

Congratulations, Rory!

I’ll be right back.

Jamie Kirkpatrick is a writer and photographer who lives in Chestertown. His work has appeared in the Washington Post, the Baltimore Sun, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Washington College Alumni Magazine, and American Cowboy Magazine. His most recent novel, “The Tales of Bismuth; Dispatches from Palestine, 1945-1948” explores the origins of the Arab-Israeli conflict. It is available on Amazon and in local bookstores.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Radcliffe Creek School relaunches wooden boatbuilding program

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Boatbuilders Joe Smith and John Henderson pose with students in Radcliffe Creek School’s boat building program behind the wooden skiff they constructed.
From left to right: Anya Orr ’27, Grady Glenn ’27, Morgan Joiner ’27, Volunteer Joe Smith, Luke Winger ’27, Greyson House ’25, Volunteer Tom Smith, Finn Thompson ’27, Ryland Kay ’26, Volunteer John Henderson and Lemar Lowrance ‘26

Radcliffe Creek School’s (RCS) makerspace has been brought back to life, along with the School’s longtime tradition of teaching its students the art of wooden boatbuilding, thanks to grant support from area foundations. The space, which sat empty for years following challenges from the pandemic, is once again abuzz with the sounds of saws and sanders as community boatbuilders teach woodworking skills to RCS students, leading them through the process of building a wooden skiff.

RCS Student Morgan Joiner ’27 attaches the foredeck to the deck beam under the direction of Boatbuilders Joe Smith and John Henderson
(From left to right: Finn Thompson ’27, Volunteer Joe Smith, Volunteer John Henderson, Morgan Joiner ’27, Anya Orr ’27 and Greyson House ’25)

A grant from the Samuel and Margaret Gorn Foundation, dedicating a new STEM Workshop within the space, as well as funding from the Dock Street Foundation to support the boatbuilding program, has made it possible for Radcliffe Creek to begin offering a new course, “STEM to Stern: Boatbuilding 101” to a group of sixth, seventh and eighth graders during a weekly after-school program. Two community volunteers—Joe Smith and John Henderson—are bringing decades of wooden boatbuilding experience, along with a passion for teaching STEM concepts, such as physics and arithmetic, to their teaching role.

Boatbuilder John Henderson explained, “As an educational experience or a lifetime fascination, wooden boatbuilding combines learning about the properties of wood, gaining facility with tools, and applying math and science to understand and predict performance. Along the way, we acquire an appreciation for accuracy, the perseverance to work through the details, and the ability to overcome inevitable frustrations.”

Using a boat design from the Alexandria Seaport Foundation, students are cutting pieces from wood and assembling them, along with materials from Chesapeake Light Craft, as they learn to build, paint and finish a twelve-foot wooden skiff. The project is expected to last three months. Boatbuilder Joe Smith remarked, “By the time the boat is finished, students will have visited a lumber mill to see how trees become boards, cut wood to dimensions shown on drawings, drilled pilot holes for the screws that hold the boat together, spread epoxy adhesive to make the boat strong and watertight, painted the whole boat and added varnished seats and rub rails to make the boat beautiful. Students have already learned to use both hand tools and power tools, and they are ready to take on their own projects.”

After the boat is completed in the spring, the School plans to name and christen the boat before ceremoniously launching it into the water with the students who built it. In the near future, RCS plans to auction off the finished vessel to fund additional projects in the revitalized space. Head of School Peter Thayer added, “We are grateful to the Samuel and Margaret Gorn Foundation and the Dock Street Foundation for making this project possible. Hands-on, immersive programs like this one bring math and engineering concepts to life in a practical way that makes learning exciting for students.”

To learn more about the immersive, individualized education program offered at Radcliffe Creek School, visit www.radcliffecreekschool.org or call 410-778-8150.

 

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