Build beyond ordinary: Strengthening the manufacturing skills of young people

It turns out that boats are a great metaphor for building almost anything. They are complex shapes, survive in hostile conditions like saltwater, and are often pushed to their limits – which may lead to them breaking down. If you can build and maintain a boat, you can build almost anything. Against this backdrop, the IYRS School of Technology & Trades evolved from a boatbuilding school into a fully-fledged maker/builder learning center in Newport, Rhode Island, USA. Its graduates learn to build with almost any material and tool from traditional implements to cutting-edge technologies.

They work across the manufacturing economy – from traditional and modern boat-building to innovative start-ups and using advanced technology from firms like Autodesk, Google X, and subcontractors for Space X. Students at IYRS learn to make, restore and maintain things with a heightened sense of purpose and craft, skills truly in demand across industries. In the process, they build more meaningful lives, satisfied and inspired in the knowledge that, in their hands, they have the power to build almost anything!