On a summer morning in June, elementary students walk into the Flathead Valley Community College’s library, taking seats in a classroom workshop. Sitting on the table are various wood working tools. 

It’s a program that WorkshopMT, a newer nonprofit, puts on using a mobile classroom, fit with hand saws, hammers, nails and wood blocks.

“Our goal is to build a community workshop where anyone of any age, with any skillset, can come learn how to do industrial arts,” said Luke Rumage, board president of WorkshopMT. 

Rumage, a licensed architect, moved here in 2021 with his wife, who’s from Montana. He was searching for a space where he could build things and ran into an issue: there was no common woodworking space he could find.  

“I wanted to continue building things, creating things, but we lived in an apartment at the time,” he said. “I started looking for a space where I could do that and I couldn’t find one. So, I wanted to create one.” 

The goal is to build the program to feature a full workshop where people can rent space for long term projects, build smaller things and also attend classes and workshops in woodworking, fabrication and metal work. Constructing a full wood workshop is estimated to be $50,000, Rumage said, so starting with the mobile classroom is a great way to get the ball moving. 

WorkshopMT officially got nonprofit status last year. It consists of board members who range in careers and specialties. While it exists right now as a mobile classroom, the goal is to move into a space that doubles as a workshop.  

Through the mobile classroom, Rumage and his team are able to partner with various entities across the valley to host classes. At Flathead Valley Community College, through the Kids College program, WorkshopMT offered two classes, each a week long, geared toward woodworking for beginners. Both classes sold out within four hours.  

The first day included learning how to use tape measures and hammers. Kids made porcupines out of blocks of wood and nails. By the end of the week, the students would make keepsake boxes.  

The mobile classroom was funded through a grant from the Town Pump Foundation. The trailer to transport the classroom was sponsored in part by the Whitefish Community Foundation.  

It’s rewarding to see the community rally for a community project, he said.  

“Once we have our own space [in the valley], our own workshop, we can host classes there and our mobile classroom can go farther, to Polson, to Browning and more,” Rumage said. “That’s why we called it WorkshopMT, we want to reach across the state.” 

The importance of woodworking and the industrial arts goes beyond just being handy, Rumage said. It’s a way to instill problem solving tactics, to understand how to move forward after mistakes and to be patient with a project.  

“It's not just teaching people new skills, the skills have a really good track record of building resilience in people,” he said. “Things will go wrong, wood will break. How do you move forward?” 

As WorkshopMT continues to grow, the nonprofit is constantly looking for volunteers who want to teach, donations of tools and interests in partnering. To learn more, visit workshopmt.org.  

Reporter Kate Heston may be reached at 758-4459 or [email protected].  

    Elementary students work with a hammer and wood at a summer class hosted by Workshop MT at the Flathead Valley Community College on June 23. (Kate Heston/Daily Inter Lake)

    Elementary students work with a hammer and wood at a summer class hosted by Workshop MT at the Flathead Valley Community College on June 23. (Kate Heston/Daily Inter Lake)