Things were buzzing in the Making and Marketing class at Boothbay Region High School on Tuesday morning, Dec. 6. Saws snarled, machines whirred, and students and teachers conferred with each other about the project underway.

The end result of all this activity will be a sturdy, slatted wooden chair. But not just any wooden chair. It's a Coastal Comfort Chair, made by the Coastal Comfort Company, comprised of 20 BRHS students who brought an idea to life, designed and financed it, then produced and marketed it.

The class is a collaboration between STEM instructor Henry “Chip” Schwehm and Technology Integrator Barbara Greenstone. “We wanted to develop a rich learning opportunity for kids, to create an authentic work experience that offered a variety of roles and tasks,” said Schwehm. “We wanted them to work as a team.” To level the playing field, the class is a pass/fail course, where students make a presentation at its conclusion.  

Students brainstormed ideas about what product they wanted to make and sell. “We had about 100 ideas that were voted down to 10,” said Emily Higgins, a STEM instructor teaching the course along with Schwehm. “Those 10 ideas were presented to the class as prototypes.” The Coastal Comfort Chair was the brainchild of student Jacob Brewer, who worked with Carter Babcock to fashion a foam prototype.

“I got the idea from a wooden chair I bought for $2 from a firemen's auction,” said Brewer, who is the head of the marketing department. “I didn't like sitting on the stools here, so I brought in the chair. Everybody likes my chair. It's a chair for everywhere.”

Students filled out mock applications to apply for the many jobs that needed to be done, from financial positions, to marketing jobs, to producing the chair itself. Schwehm then assigned tasks, some of which had a stiff learning curve. The students working with saws, sanders and steamers look like pros, but it's been a process. “Most have never worked with shop tools,” said Schwehm. “They've had to learn how to make the chairs.”

Babcock and Henry Drapeau were fitting a square of blue duck canvas to the seat frame of a chair-in-progress. “We're the seat technicians,” Babcock said. The color is in honor of one of BRHS's school colors. When asked about the merits of the duck canvas, Babcock said it was sturdy, heavy, and somewhat stain-resistant. The seat frame itself was beautifully cut and joined together at the corners. “It's Maine ash,” Babcock said. “We dealt with local merchants.”

To demonstrate how to obtain project financing, a mock committee consisting of students, business people and school administration paid a visit to a bank to obtain a mock loan. The actual budget for this year, $1,150, came from the profit made from last year's class. This year's profits will pay back the cost of making the chairs. What's left over will go into a fund for next year's class. “Our dream is to have enough for a scholarship fund,” said Higgins.

Hailey Greenleaf is Coastal Comfort Chair’s head of finance. She handles payroll, orders parts, researches prices and keeps track of expenditures. Like many other students in the class, she wears several hats. During the interview, she was using an awl on pieces of the template. The advantages of this class are obvious to her. “We can apply what we learn here to the real world,” she said.

Idea man Jacob Brewer was working on a commercial, made with the help of Boothbay Region Community TV (BRCTV) producers Ryan Leighton and Cody Mitchell, who donated time and materials to help the students. “They have continuously been generous with working with BRHS students,” said Higgins.

“The commercial took about a month to make,” Brewer said. “We started with story boards, wrote a script, and began shooting it in early November.” Brewer was surprised by the number of retakes it took to get one shot. But he loved the process, and it's led to a work/study stint next semester with Channel 7.

The commercial will debut soon and will be linked to both BRCTV and the Coastal Comfort Chair's Facebook page. The Facebook page features videos, photos and information on the process. The link to the company's website is www.tinyurl.com/coastalcomfort.

A limited production of 50 chairs will be produced. Each of the 20 students gets one, which leaves 30 chairs at $50 per chair. Thirteen were already sold. Word on the street is that the rest of them will go fast. Don't miss out on the chair that goes everywhere.