Western Michigan University’s Office for Sustainability hosts weekly workshops in woodworking for students.
The Living Woodshop is open to students every Friday 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at WMU’s Office for Sustainability. Maddie Stephens is the woodshop's coordinator. She said it gives students who have never done woodwork the opportunity to use new tools.
“The goal of the Living Woodshop is just to improve those relationships with the tools and how to work with them safely,” Stephens said.
She added that students at the Living Woodshop can use their own imaginations to decide what to make.
“They’re typically the ones who come in with ideas, and then they get to design that and plan out how they’re going to approach a problem and troubleshoot during that process.”
The open shop is student-led and teaches students how to repair broken items or make new ones. It also gives students the opportunity to volunteer with community projects, making items such as benches and tables.