LYNN — Lynn students Jaleel Khamis, Uriel Fernandez, Crystal Fernandez, and Tony Gonzalez spent their spring vacation in April at the makerspace Brickyard Collaborative building a rowboat from scratch. On Wednesday, they launched and rowed that boat in the Atlantic Ocean.
The navy-and-yellow row boat named U.S.S. 2 Sense, that was once just a piece of wood, was built by the students with the help of Boston-based nonprofit Community Boat Building.
Brickyard Collaborative, Kayak and Sail Lynn, and Community Boat Building all came together to make this project happen.
The students did all of the work themselves with assistance from Bob McCarty of Community Boat Building, including all of the math and logistics that go into building a boat.
“We have spent our entire spring vacation building this boat right here. We learned mathematics, how to do the measurements, and we learned how to work as a team,” Lynn English High School freshman Uriel Fernandez said. “We are really prideful of how it looks.”
The plan was for the students to give it to veterans. On Wednesday, they did just that when they presented the boat to Marine Staff Sgt. Alexander Almonte.
“If you look at the craftsmanship that it takes to make something like this, the dedication, the time, that love for cooperation and learning new things. This is a skill that you’re going to be able to take and grow,” Almonte said after accepting the boat.
He thanked the students, as well as those from the community who came to see the launch.
“This means a lot to them,” Almonte said. “These kids know that their community supports them.”
Kayak and Sail Lynn President Sean Reid said the students dedicated hours of hard work to build the row boat.
“It was amazing that they got to show off the fruits of their labor in this fashion,” Reid, who is also the district director for state Sen. Brendan Crighton, said. “We are so grateful to the veteran community for participating, as well as the elected officials and community members who came out to show support.”
Mayor Jared Nicholson told the crowd and students that the boat launch was an exciting moment for the community.
“This is just such a great example of what can happen when folks bring their passions, their skill sets together towards a common goal,” Nicholson said.
Lynn English teacher Frank Grealish said watching the students build the boat in April was “phenomenal.”
“The key moment was students presenting to veterans for veterans’ use, and lessons learned and hard work,” Grealish said.
The four students, Almonte, and McCarty walked the boat to the water together. Then, the students got to take the boat into the water to row it.
“It looks so cute and adorable,” Crystal Fernandez, a seventh-grader at Thurgood Marshall Middle School, said before the launch. “I’m very proud.”
