Thursday After School - Day 1

What a diverse mixture of expressions accompanied the kiddos who strolled into the shop for the first day of Thursday after school this spring. Some bounded in offering hugs to collaborators, excited about being a year older (eight) and therefore able to enroll in our "middles" session. A few were returning fresh from last week's Spring Break Camp feeling confident and ready for more! As we've come to expect some were simply stoked on the thought of being trusted with power tools. Then the last few timidly approached the shop, one foot slowly in front of the other with blank stares and an apparent concern about what their afternoon was about to hold.

Right away I knew we had the perfect mix of the diversity required to come together leverage our collective strengths and equip each others tool belts. I believe this group is prepared to share in the sort of great failures required for us to learn how to build something awesome, together!

But first: we had ask a lot of questions about how to treat each other and the space. 

Opening circle introductions- Wolf shares how he would adopt an animal's mutation to change the color of his skin to match his surroundings. 

Also questions about how to safely use the chop saw, clamps and drills. 

Lindsay says, "Knock on this wood. It's pretty hard, right? If this saw can cut though it, it can easily cut through you. So let's lean how to operate it safely."

Nic asks Ria, "Well if these pieces are the same height, what could we do to get rid of this gap and clamp a piece across it?" 

"Ryan, it's time to take out our screws and clean up but what could you do next time to stop that frame from moving around?"

In the end I believe a great time was had. Can't wait to pick up where we left off and do it again next week. 

For more photos of this session check out our flickr