This weekend marks the first Workgang of the ‘24-’25 academic year. Alumni, you all know what this means. Parents, especially those of you who are just joining us this year, Workgang brings students and faculty together for a morning of meaningful work, generally some form of manual labor, generally outdoors, sometimes on campus, sometimes off campus and in the community. Each student and faculty member participates in Workgang at least one Saturday morning each month. They may be tasked with building and maintaining trails, raking, stacking wood, recycling along the roadside, or any number of other jobs that need doing. 

Workgang is a core element of the Dublin School curriculum, so core that Saturday is technically classified as an academic day, and Workgang a class. Workgang has also been an enduring feature of a Dublin School education, around since the early days, and since crystallized in the school’s mission as an element of “discipline and meaningful work necessary for good of self and community.” 

Here is Paul Lehmann, our founder, talking about the genesis of Workgang: “Beside the gainful aspects of each endeavor was the possibility of learning something useful, new, interesting. I might say here that we never had ‘make-work projects.’ All of ours had a purpose: temporary, seasonal or permanent. And NEVER as punishment. ‘Any labor honestly undertaken is admirable’ This attitude prevailed.” 

This attitude still prevails. The Quad sat down with Harper H., a Workgang legend, to talk about why this program still exists, and why we ought to embrace it.

Harper, why do we do Workgang? 

Workgang has been a part of school since the start of the school. It was originally a part of the school because it needed to happen, there weren’t enough staff here to get everything done, and so students and faculty ran it together. And I think that as the school moved along, and its value became more well-defined, they realized that we do really believe in having students and faculty be kind of on par with one another, both need to put work into the community. This isn’t a place that just serves you, it’s also a place we are all responsible for putting work into. 

Last year you went to every Workgang! That’s the stuff of legend. What is it about Workgang that you enjoy or find meaningful?

It’s pretty much chores. It’s work that needs to be done. I would be lying if I said all of it was fun, but it does give me the opportunity to spend time with a lot of people who I may not normally hang out with, I value that aspect. And I also value how much better the rest of my day feels after doing something that I didn’t necessarily want to do but is something I know is beneficial to the rest of the community. 

Do you have any core Workgang memories that you could share? 

So in the fall we rake a lot of leaves around campus, and we’ll pile them into the back of a truck, and then we take them just a couple minutes down the road. If you’re lucky you actually get to ride in the truck bed with all the leaves. Maybe it’s a little unsafe, but it’s a lot of fun. You get to feel the wind in your face as you try to keep the leaves in the truck.
 

Article by Liam Sullivan