Manteo High School students build a boat
- Staff Reports
- 3 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Greg Hathaway (bending down), a carpentry teacher at Manteo High School, speaks to several students as their class works on the side of the boat on Monday, April 27, 2026. Dare County Schools Superintendent Steve Basnight (back left) watches the class in action. (Photo by Corinne Saunders)
By staff reports
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MANTEO — A unique endeavor in its second year at Manteo High School ties into both local history and into the local workforce. Carpentry students in Greg Hathaway’s class are building a 21-foot center console boat from the ground up.
Nearly 100 students have been involved in building the boat, Hathaway told Outer Banks Insider.
“A lot of these students own their own boats,” Hathaway said. “So, on a basic scale, they now can do some of the maintenance that they couldn’t have done before.”
He continued, “And if they intend to go into that industry, they know the basics. They have the foundation for how those boats are built, and they can step right into that kind of a career.”
Smith Belton, a Manteo High School sophomore, spoke highly of the class.
“It’s really fun,” Belton said. “Getting to build the boat, just like First Flight [High School students] built, what was it, an airplane?” he continued. “This, I feel like, is more up my alleyway because my dad is a professional sports fisherman in Pirate’s Cove. That’s what I want to be when I grow up—doing offshore fishing with dad.”
The program is one of numerous career and technical education (CTE) programs Dare County Schools offers.
The school system’s goal is to provide students with options, according to Superintendent Steve Basnight, who rode in First Flight High School’s student-built airplane two weeks ago.
“Whether it’s a CTE program, whether it’s an academic program, or anything in between, we want students to be able to pick a direction—and then change their mind if they want to,” Basnight said.
Dr. Shannon Castillo, director of admin services and CTE for Dare County Schools, noted that many Manteo High School students have personal connections to the area’s boatbuilding history.
“When we look at the community that Manteo is in and what it’s all about, there’s such a huge history and foundation in the boatbuilding industry,” Castillo said. “The boat that they’re building is a 21-foot center console boat, but using the cold mold process, which actually still exists today in our big boatbuilding industries.”
A local boatbuilding company, Bayliss Boatworks in Wanchese, supplied the project materials and has sent people at times to assist in the process, according to Hathaway.
Click the video below to watch Outer Banks Insider’s coverage of the students at work and the full series of interviews about the program.
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