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Yacht Maker, Woodworkers Mentor Teens

March 03, 2009 - RICHMOND — Kaitlyn Maguire, a senior at Richmond High School, admits she was a little scared at first to work amid the buzzing power tools used to craft wood into intricately detailed interior pieces for multimillion-dollar yachts.

Now, in the words of Ron Walton, a lead man at Hodgdon Yachts' Hodgdon Interiors, Maguire is a star.

"She's become a real asset for the company," he said of the young apprentice. "Everybody loves to work with her. She likes what she's doing, and she does excellent work. She's a star."

Maguire is one of four Richmond students in a new apprenticeship program at Hodgdon Yachts' interiors division.

The program began this school year – Hodgdon's first since opening its interiors division last year in Richmond to create finely crafted interiors for both their own high-end pleasure yachts and other yacht-makers' watercraft.

Seniors Maguire, Matt Brown and Gary Perry and junior Ryan Dearborn attend classes at the high school before coming over around noon to work at Hodgdon until 4:30 or so. They receive school credit and also draw paychecks for their work.

They work alongside, and under the guidance of, Hodgdon's cabinetmakers and joiners, a crew of about 30 woodworkers inside the Richmond Business and Manufacturing Center, a former Etonic shoe factory.

Chris Paine, safety officer, oversees the apprenticeship program. He said the facility's workers have embraced the program, and the students have, too. He said the students could work for Hodgdon after they graduate but said even if they don't, he considers the program well worth it.

"It's exciting to have even a small part in a young person's life. It's the mentoring mindset. That's how I learned when I came in," Paine said.

Students' work will go into some high-end stuff. While Hodgdon officials usually don't disclose the prices of their vessels, citing customer confidentiality, the 154-foot yacht Scheherazade, built by Hodgdon in 2003, was listed online about a year ago at $29 million.

"It's exciting to know you took part in making something that goes into something so high-end," Perry said.

John Williamson, assistant principal, said that ever since Hodgdon came to the community, the East Boothbay yacht-maker has encouraged the high school to involve students in the company's work. He said the program provides a different way for students to learn.

Dearborn said his favorite job at Hodgdon is sanding, because it's a chance to fine-tune nearly complete work. He likes the hands-on aspect of work at Hodgdon compared to regular schoolwork.

"I find (the work) more interesting. And it's fun, too," he said.

By KEITH EDWARDS, Kennebec Journal March 3, 2009


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