What We’re About

Are you interested in learning the skills of a trade? On Carpentry Crew, you will be trained in carpentry fundamentals, proper power tool use, equipment maintenance, personal protective equipment, and all safety aspects of maintenance. As you grow into a more experienced carpenter you will become self-sufficient and be able to complete jobs from start to finish. Typical tasks include repairing windows, doors, and furniture; replacing blinds, window screens, ceiling tiles, flooring, and trim; and cleaning gutters.

Student Leadership Opportunities

  • Carpentry Crew Leader: The crew leader is responsible for helping supervise the crew, train new crew members, lead projects at work sites, and delegate work orders.

What You’ll Learn

You’ll spend years working alongside your peers with the mentorship of your supervisors.  Part of the experience of work at Warren Wilson is guided critical reflection, which helps ensure that you achieve both your own educational goals as well as our Common Learning Outcomes. These intentional learning outcomes distinguish our Work Program, giving it focus and relevancy that set it apart from a federal work-study or your average part-time job. 

Our Common Learning Outcomes:

  • Professionalism & Work Ethic: accountability, effective work habits, punctuality, dependability, time management, integrity, and commitment to the well-being of the community.
  • Critical Thinking and Problem Solving: working with available resources to creatively address issues and solve problems, and gaining confidence to make decisions.
  • Communication: the ability to convey and receive information effectively with intentionality, honesty, and confidence in both speech and writing.
  • Collaboration & Teamwork: actively collaborate with peers to achieve common goals, Distribute labor fairly, and hold each other accountable as committed members of a group.
  • Civic Identity: understanding your active influence within the community and how your decisions directly impact the work around you.

In addition to our Common Learning Outcomes, each crew in the Work Program identifies crew-specific goals for learning and performance. These are reviewed with you each semester. Your crew-specific learning goals outline skills and abilities your supervisor will teach you during the semester. 

Some of our Carpentry crew learning goals include:

  • Learn how to safely and effectively use power tools, such as circular, reciprocating, jackhammer, drill, and chip saw. 
  • Carpentry and maintenance skills. 
  • Learn code compliance in both commercial and residential settings.