APPRENTICESHIPS

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During one of  THRIVE's pottery classes, a 14-year-old participant showed an exceptional natural ability to work with clay. Our pottery teacher is local potter Morgan Hoover of Little Blackberry Creek Pottery, whose work is featured at the Grove Park Inn and on the National Christmas Tree in Washington this year. Morgan was delighted at the prospect of an apprenticeship with this creative, hard-working young woman. They spent the entire summer working together--5 days a week at the pottery studio--learning and creating, culminating in a spectacularly successful booth at the Mount Mitchell Craft Fair. During the craft fair, they were visited by THRIVES! Executive Director, Board Chair, pie-making teacher, and Community Partners celebrating the beautiful work of this budding young artist. At this fall's TRAC tour, she will have her own table at Little Blackberry Creek Pottery studio! Make sure to stop by to see her magical creations in clay!

At one of THRIVE's sewing classes, a young man was sharing about his job at a local fast-food restaurant. When asked what he really wanted to do, he said he wanted to be a furniture maker. Executive Director Pana Columbus called Sara Masters at Avery Connect, a local apprenticeship program and asked her if she could arrange for a paid apprenticeship for this young man. Within a few weeks this young man embarked on a paid 6-week, full-time summer apprenticeship with High Country Cabinets. He loved being part of their team and they loved his strong work ethic. A collaborating contractor playfully tried to steal him onto his team, so impressed was he with this young man. He was told that if there's a position available when he graduates next year, they would love to hire him. Here's a photo of our young man during THRIVES! blacksmithing class. He made hand-forged hardware for cabinets, adding to his skillset in the world of custom woodwork.