School of Masonry Opens in Maine

The Maine School of Masonry opened on Sept. 7 in Avon, Maine with its first class of 12 students. Stephen Mitchell, a local resident of Avon, is the founder and head instructor of the school. Mitchell is a certified teacher and a graduate of the Northern Maine Vocational Institute.

After opening his own masonry contracting business, Mitchell became aware of the need to preserve the masonry trade.

According to Mitchell, the United States is losing 1500 masons annually with only 200 masons replacing them each year. Mitchell also feels that user-friendly materials are endangering the trade.

Located in a former toy factory, the school was renovated by Mitchell in his spare time.

Mitchell?EUR??,,????'???s goals for the school include a three-phase plan. The first phase will focus on drawing masons into the state, keeping the trade going, and working towards a full-day program that will run Monday-Friday. The second phase will provide community education in the evenings and weekends for adults wanting to learn skills that will enable them to maintain their own properties. The third phase will offer one-week courses for church group members seeking building skills that can be used in mission work abroad.

The school will offer the following certificate courses for the fall semester:

• Bricklaying I
• Bricklaying II
• Chimney Construction
• Fireplace Construction
• Block-laying
• Stone-laying

The classes will run for two nights during the week and Saturdays for 10 weeks. Each course will include three sections: classroom instruction, laboratory practice, and a community project.

For more information about the Maine School of Masonry e-mail masonryschool@tds.net or call (207) 639-2392.