Program:
Internship Program
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Education
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Adults
Program Description:
The Internship Program is dedicated to provide a unique educational experience volunteering and living as part of the Yestermorrow community. Program participants -- in six-month and twelve-month sessions -- learn basic design/build and non-profit administrative skills by means of hands-on experience, and at the same time are able to take a variety of courses offered by talented faculty from all over the country. The Interns provide Yestermorrow with critical support in the day-to-day operations of the School while participating in hands-on learning opportunities both in and out of formal classes. The interns each contribute approximately 40-45 hours of labor per week in exchange for housing, meals, and classes.
We ask that Interns be interested in the philosophy of Yestermorrow and willing to learn, through experience and hard work, the processes involved in maintaining a healthy community and school operation. This requires flexibility, creativity, patience, curiosity, and responsibility toward our community on the part of the Intern.
Our internships provide post-college individuals with practical experience and skill development in the fields of building, design, project management, outreach, cooking and gardening. Interns volunteer on a full time, temporary basis (6 or 12 month commitment), and are provided housing and meals on site.
We try to create a diverse and dynamic group of people with many skills, interests and varying backgrounds, so that each individual can offer a new or different perspective to the group. While we appreciate knowledge or skill in a particular area, everyone participates in different areas of the work of the School. Therefore acceptance to our program does not depend solely upon experience, but rather on a combination of the various qualities we feel an applicant can contribute to our community.
Yestermorrow currently offers 4 different internship positions.
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Program Success Monitored by:
Curriculum Director, Dan Eckstein
Program Success Examples:
Program:
Design/Build courses
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Education
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Adults
Program Description:
Yestermorrow’s courses are specifically designed to demystify the designing and building processes using hands-on, experiential learning to teach students the art and wisdom of good design and the skill and savvy of enduring craftsmanship as a single, integrated process.
This creative process offers students unique insight into the oftentimes disparate worlds of the architect and the builder. Architects are routinely trained without any building experience that might inform their designs, and builders are trained to execute without a sense of the overarching purpose or design of the project.
Combining design and building offers numerous advantages and promotes the creation of intentional and inspired buildings and communities that enhance our world. From the professional design/builder to the do-it-yourself design/build homeowner, every designer should know how to build and every builder should know how to design. This philosophy sets Yestermorrow apart from other educational institutions.
The Yestermorrow Curriculum
Our curriculum is based on three scales of the design/build process: Whole Buildings and Communities (large scale), Materials, Methods and Building Systems (medium scale), and Architectural Craft and Woodworking (small scale). This macro/micro approach will allow you to explore the world of design/build no matter the scope of your project or size of your dreams. If you need help in deciding on the right courses for you, please call and ask for additional information.
Professional Development at Yestermorrow
Yestermorrow is committed to providing educational opportunities for practicing professionals and students in the fields of architecture, environmental design, fine arts, landscape design, engineering, and planning. Our goal is to expand the horizons of those already in the design and construction field, and to deepen their understanding of the interrelationships between the design process and the construction process. We offer Continuing Education credits through the American Institute of Architects for a wide variety of courses at all scales of design/build. Our Professional courses are marked throughout the curriculum with the AIA symbol.
Courses and Instructors
Yestermorrow is unique in its professional field. Since 1980 our nationally-recognized instructors have been teaching all aspects of the building arts and trades to present and future members of the design/build team: student, homeowner, designer and builder. Courses are intensive and constantly engaging, challenging students to solve complex design problems through the integration of the design and construction processes. We offer a low student-to-instructor ratio, allowing individualized instruction and personal attention. Our instructors and staff consist of over one hundred professional architects, builders and artisans who come from across the nation to the mountains of central Vermont to share their expertise with our students. View current course listings.
Program Long-Term Success:
From its humble beginnings 29 years ago, Yestermorrow has indeed come a long way, and now serves more than 1100 students, seven days a week, in more than 150 courses annually at the School’s 38-acre residential campus in Warren, Vermont. Nationally, Yestermorrow is a recognized leader in architectural design/build education, and respected by its peers and students for the quality of its programs and the sheer delight of the “Yestermorrow experience.”
While much has changed about Yestermorrow since 1980, the core ideals and beliefs upon which the School was founded have not. Over the past 28 years, Yestermorrow has maintained an abiding commitment to the methodology of the integrated design/build process as a tool to empower people to create their own fulfilling places and promote a more sustainable world.
Yestermorrow’s commitment to empowering people and cultivating sustainability through the design/build process began with the School’s first Home Design/Build course in 1980 (now a Yestermorrow mainstay), which focused on the homeowner. Yestermorrow understands that people who “invest” in their homes with their head, heart, and hands through the design/build process are powerful agents of positive change. They have an enhanced sense of place, belonging, and commitment—a sense that transcends the home to benefit the community and beyond. This quality is at the heart of today’s “sustainable communities movement,” whereby people are seeking ways to strengthen the fabric of society and feel more fulfilled within a world increasingly influenced by transiency, cultural homogenization, and a decline in social communion. Yestermorrow has clearly been ahead of its time in promoting the reconnection of people to places.
In the years since its inception, Yestermorrow has remained focused on serving the homeowner, while expanding the School’s reach to practicing professionals and students in the fields of architecture, environmental design, engineering, construction and planning, and to communities and their citizens from far and wide through landmark design/build projects.
Since 1984, Yestermorrow has offered a professional curriculum with a sustainable design/build approach as an alternative to conventional practice, believing professionals will have a greater impact on the built environment and health of communities as they apply their expertise to a wide range of projects and venues throughout their careers. Moreover, Yestermorrow’s longstanding internship program has launched the careers of aspiring designers and builders from across the country, many of whom today are successful practitioners in the design/build world. From interns to professionals, Yestermorrow’s educational initiatives clearly embrace the “teach the teachers” model of exponential empowerment.
In addition, by teaching design/build courses that incorporate green technologies, natural building, and responsible land use practices Yestermorrow has continued to meet the needs of a changing society and its citizens who seek to live a more sustainable lifestyle. The School has also spearheaded special design/build projects throughout the years that serve real community needs and promote the greater good, and has created a wide variety of courses that fulfill students’ passion for ongoing experiential learning. Indeed, Yestermorrow has been in the forefront of today’s growing “green movement” as well as the popular “do-it-yourself phenomenon.” Its longstanding commitment to personal empowerment and environmental sustainability have become part of our mainstream culture.
Program Short-Term Success:
Program Success Monitored by:
Curriculum Committee made up of Board, Faculty and Staff members.
Program Success Examples:
Program:
Certificate Programs
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Education
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Adults
Program Description:
Yestermorrow offers three certificate programs designed for individuals looking for intensive, in-depth, hands-on opportunities for deepening understanding, acquiring functional skill sets, and widening career opportunities. Open to educational enthusiasts of all ages (from 18 up), our certificate programs offer intensive learning opportunities for anyone seeking a blast of career development in a timeframe substantial enough for real growth, but short enough to squeeze in around other family and career obligations.
Our 11-week Woodworking Certificate program is designed to give amateurs and aspiring professionals a solid grounding in woodworking and furnituremaking techniques, led by Yestermorrow's talented and nationally recognized faculty. Skills learned in the Certificate program include design and drafting, wood selection and preparation, joinery, traditional hand skills, sharpening, power tool techniques, and finishing. The curriculum has a strong focus on the integration of design in the woodworking process, part of Yestermorrow's core philosophy of design/build.
Our five-week Natural Building Certificate is a unique course of study providing hands-on exploration of earthen and natural elements and the means by which they can be used to create structures and shelter. From the design and planning stages through the finishing touches, students will gain comfort and experience working with straw, wood, clay, sand, stone, water, and lime as they design, erect, shape, sculpt, and detail the walls, roofs and floors that enclose healthy, comfortable, low-impact, living spaces. The program includes an Introduction to Natural Building, as well as segments on Insulative Natural Wall Systems, Thermally Massive Natural Wall Systems, Natural Plasters, Advanced Plasters and Finishes, and Earthen Floors. The Natural Building Certificate provides the opportunity to develop a range of natural building skills for owner-builders and aspiring professional natural builders alike.
Our Certificate in Sustainable Building and Design provides students with a solid grounding in sustainable design principles, along with hands-on experience in the design/build process. Ranging from community-scale planning to the details of photovoltaic installation, the Certificate covers a broad spectrum of topics from small to large scale. Balancing theory with hands-on practice, students have the opportunity to explore alternative, innovative, and experimental design and building methodologies and materials. The Certificate program is designed for those wishing to learn the art of design/build while developing a strong understanding of the concepts and methods of green design.
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Program:
Semester Programs
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Education
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General Public/Unspecified
Program Description:
For students already enrolled or recently graduated from an undergraduate or graduate level degree program, Yestermorrow Design/Build School offers two alternatives to the typical “domestic exchange” semester program. A handful of matriculated students from various disciplines will have the unique opportunity to immerse themselves in a cutting-edge hands-on design/build project, while earning college credit through our partnership with UMass Amherst's Architecture + Design program.
These two distinct programs of study are: the Undergraduate Semester in Sustainable Design/Build offered each fall, and the Graduate Semester in Integrative Design/Build offered in the spring/summer.
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