This past year we have had a new scholarship fund created in memory of E. Logan Welborn, a 2010/12 Marine Systems and Wooden Boat Building alumni. This was initiated by Bill Koffler (YD 87/88), his employer at Aquidneck Custom Composites, and has been generously supported by contributions from his family and friends. The continued support of this fund will insure it is able to provide returning students with a meaningful scholarship for many years to come.
At this time, as we remember Logan’s passing, we have a profile of Stephen Resko who’s the first recipient of the scholarship and someone who fits the mold. Stephen excelled in Composite Boatbuilding last year and was thinking of returning but didn’t re-enroll. I caught up with him mid-summer, and discovered it was funding that was holding him back. The E Logan Welborn Scholarship was enough to enable purchase of computer and software and get Stephen over the hump. He is currently in Yacht Design and plans to follow in Logan’s footsteps and build boats.
Stephen is typical of our student body in at least one respect – he is of “average age” which hovers in the 25-30 range most years. He is also passionate about boats and has been “since forever”. He grew up building stitch and glue plywood boats with his father, fishing the shores of Long Island Sound and venturing further afield on Carolina sportfishers when vacationing in the Outer Banks. After high school he worked with his father setting up a payroll company and moved with the family to Florida…where more fishing opportunities abound…as well as work doing gelcoat repairs and odd jobs on boats. As many do, he “found” The Landing School through Google, packed up his life and dragged his girlfriend north….to find Maine was even colder than he remembered Connecticut to be. Somewhere warmer is in his future plans, if for no other reason than there are more fish in those climates.
Year one at TLS was in Composite Boatbuilding where instructor Cristian Macovei recalls he was “never satisfied…always asking more questions…and creating challenges for himself”. This was evident in his capstone project where he set about developing a canoe paddle, the shaft of which was not circular or a constant section and had to marry to a two-part molded blade also complex in shape. And all built of prepreg carbon. “It worked awesome, by the way – I used it all summer”
He is back now for a second year, with support from the E Logan Welborn Scholarship, in Yacht Design, which is presenting a “different set of challenges than in Composites. Let’s just say…um…it’s going well...but there has been a lot in the last two weeks”. Yacht Design students liken it to drinking from a firehose. The combination of the academic rigor in YD and the hands-on practical experience of Composites will stand him in good stead.
Like most TLS graduates his plan is to find a job and make some money. He also has, in common with many (see last month’s story on Cameron Chislett), a yearning to design his own boat. Perhaps a 20-25’ stitch and glue center console, which can become a plug for tooling and the basis for a boat with his own mark. Before that though, he may wander a little further south, working at a mid-Atlantic boatyard…and fishing the weekends.
Stephen’s advice to someone thinking of following a path similar to his own and making the big move is to simply, “Throw out your reservations and make it happen. I’ve not regretted it once”
A little about Logan, from Bill Koffler of Aquidneck Custom Composites:
“Dammit…Logan had an air of confidence, humor, and humility that made him so much fun to be around and work with. There was never a challenge he didn’t rise to because he was not afraid of making a mistake. Logan just wanted to learn and improve every day.
Logan never used a GPS for driving directions, he wanted to depend on himself and maps. He wanted to take his savings and buy land. Somewhere he could build a yurt and exist with nature.
Ellis, (Logan’s first name) loved his brother Carson. He was truly his brother’s keeper and did everything he could to help him and guide him. Carson has now finished MTTI (motorcycle mechanics school) and A&P (airframe and powerplant) school thanks to Logan constantly urging him to achieve in life.
At a party Logan was a superstar, even now I am smiling when I think about him having a beer and busting balls with the gang. No New Year’s Eve will ever be the same without Logan shooting a bottle rocket from his ass crack... It may be a little off color of a story but that was Logan and I am laughing out loud having that vivid image in my memory.
Tragically Logan left us all far too early. If you apply for his scholarship keep this all in mind, Logan was the real deal and had it all.”
Talent
Humility
Work ethic
Humor
Social awareness
Love for his friends and family
And a desire to always improve.
Bill Koffler (Yacht Design, 1987/88), Aquidneck Custom Composites
Pictured: E. Logan Welborn.