“We use traditional wooden boat building to help teach kids soft skills like communication, goal setting and team work,” Rocking the Boat Executive Director Chris Childers said. The din of work spilled from the workshop, with students shaping oars, hammering boards on the 15-foot wooden boat, or building their own miniature versions to take home. The group is building a row boat once prolific on San Francisco Bay. The boat building is not only linking students up with industrial skills, it’s also linking them up with the area’s industrial history. “In this area was a hotspot for boat building and boat repair,” Hottner said.