St. Clare’s Montessori Lake Tahoe
In the fall of 2024, the Truckee Roundhouse partnered for the second year with St. Clare’s to offer an 8-week program in woodworking. While our first year focused on building basic woodworking skills, the middle school group took on a much more ambitious project the second year: to design and build a concession stand to sell coffee and snacks to the St. Clare’s community.
The concession stand project is part of the school’s Microeconomy program, where students develop a product or service during the school year and determine if the venture is successful. We loved this partnership because the students learned practical woodworking skills while complementing their business studies.
Roundhouse Woodworking Instructor and retired contractor, Brent Ferrera, led the team of students through their project, simulating what it would be like to work on a real job site and talking to the students as if they were a construction team.
The students learned valuable skills in collaboration and teamwork. They needed to work together to complete the project, and by the end, they were working very well together.
When asked if St. Clare’s would recommend the Truckee Roundhouse program to others, Adolescent Program Instructor Peter Larson said, “Yes, it’s important to have hands-on experiences. Students learn with their hands, and the Roundhouse is one of the best places to do that.” We couldn’t agree more and look forward to future projects with St. Clare’s.
Saint Clare’s Montessori School was founded to provide a nurturing, Catholic education to the children of North Lake Tahoe, and is committed to sharing a love of Christ and His teachings and the joy of the Catholic faith with our students. The program provides the children with a rich learning environment which they are encouraged to move through freely.