🔒Hey, young people: Here’s 100% student placement, with a water view

I read your From the Editor column in the Feb. 8 edition of Mainebiz regarding Maine’s young people. I wanted to comment that The Landing School in Arundel, one of the top-rated marine industry colleges in the country, is busy educating many people from Maine for careers in the marine industry. We accept students from all over the world, but we have a large number of Mainers who have just graduated from high school, college or are just looking for a career change into the marine industry field. We offer one year diploma programs in wooden boat building, composite boat building, marine systems technology and yacht design. Students may also opt for a two-year associate degree in marine industry technology by taking two of the diploma programs plus 15 semester hours in general education which we offer on site or credits can be transferred from an accredited college or university if it meets our requirements. We also have a joint program with Maine Maritime Academy for an associate degree program. The best educational value, however, is a collaborative three-year Bachelor of Engineering program with Southampton-Solent University in the United Kingdom, the leading small-craft design and production program worldwide. Students spend the first year in our yacht design program then go to Southampton for years two and three and graduate with a Bachelor of Engineering in Small Craft Design and Production.

Student placement in the industry is 100% with a historical rate of 94%. With the recovery of the marine industry booming, our students receive many job offers before graduation, many from Maine boat builders or boatyards. We have supplied countless grads to Hodgdon Yachts, Hinckley, Morris, Lyman Morse, Back Cove, Sabre, Maine Yacht Center, Portland Yacht Services, Yankee Marine, South Port Marine and many others. Several Maine companies are actually headed by Landing School graduates.

I totally agree with your premise that there are many great opportunities for young people to stay in Maine, not only for their education but also for their careers. I hope you will continue to promote this to your readers.