Carving Out A Niche: Lifetime Woodworking

Every afternoon, Lawrentians can be found on courts, fields, and turf, training with their teams for a plethora of seasonal sports offered at various levels. For all students, participation in these activities is mandatory, and for many, sports provide a healthy outlet. However, there is a population of students for whom playing a sport is undesirable. This group includes off-season athletes who want time to recuperate after an intense season or recover from injuries, as well as students for whom sports is simply not a passion. In order to accommodate these students, Lawrenceville offers a set of activities under the “Lifetime” umbrella, and these co-curriculars cater to students seeking a less intensive pace for their activity. This may be found in Lifetime activities such as dance, farming, or tech crew. 

“Woodworking”  is the latest addition to the Lifetime sports roster. This initiative is spearheaded by Coach Rex Brodie, a woodworking teacher of fifteen years who currently teaches Visual Arts at Lawrenceville. In Brodie’s experience, producing useful items through hands-on woodworking provides students with an opportunity to decompress. This passion inspired him to create a space at Lawrenceville for students to learn woodworking. However, as Brodie wanted his students to have ample time to dig into their projects, adding a woodworking class would not have provided ample time due to s brief and infrequent meetings. Thus, the idea of the woodworking co-curricular was born. 

Lifetime Woodworking is in its pilot trimester, and the co-curricular currently consists of a small group of students who meet thrice a week in the Gruss Center for Art and Design to explore the basics of “traditional” woodworking. 

According to Ava Martoma ’25, a participant in the co-curricular, its small size allows students to get to know each other well through their shared interests. The students’ current project is building wooden frames, a project Brodie has used as an  initial class project for “many, many years.” This strategically chosen project allows Brodie to introduce students to traditional equipment providing a starting point for the understanding of “safe woodworking.” Most importantly, the project gives Brodie the opportunity to teach how to navigate the workshop safely. 

The woodworking co-curricular also integrates technology such as laser cutting and the computer application “Rhinoceros 3D” in order to  turn designs into student creations. For Brodie, this produces “a nice combination of traditional woodworking and new digital fabrication techniques.”

 Aki Li ’25  “loves” learning 3D design as it is a very “calming and cool” process. Furthermore, it grants  students creative freedom and the ability to see their designs come to fruition, transforming  simple ideas into tangible creations. As most of the kids in the co-curricular do not have prior woodworking experience, seeing their work progress  is fresh and extremely exciting. 

Brodie’s Lifetime woodworking co-curricular is a fun change of pace for students, allowing students experienced in Woodworking to explore it in a structured setting while also welcoming students without prior interest to explore a new pastime. Whether you are an out-of-season athlete or a tri-semester Lifetime participant, Lifetime Woodworking with Coach Brodie is the perfect choice for a new, interesting activity that teaches carpentry skills and provides a unique creative outlet.