Ampli5E

09/30/2026

Many options available!

After 70 years of dismissing vocational ed, America is taking a second look at this alternative to a bachelor’s degree.

09/25/2026

We’re more than halfway to our $70,000 goal for the Kearsarge Regional High School Tiny House on Wheels project! 🏠

That goal will help students complete the build and provide scholarships for students pursuing careers in the trades.

Thank you to everyone who has helped bring this project this far. Every donation gets us a bit closer, so please consider giving any amount today!

We’re building small and dreaming big. ❤️

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=M5G828EEE96T2

09/01/2026

A law signed by Gov. Kelly Ayotte this summer authorizes tiny homes and yurts to be considered single-family homes or accessory dwelling units statewide.

08/26/2026

Metallica is one of the biggest metal bands on the planet. What most of their fans don't know is what the band has quietly been building off stage: one of the largest trade-school pipelines in the country.

It runs through their foundation, All Within My Hands, and specifically the Metallica Scholars Initiative. In partnership with the American Association of Community Colleges, the band funds career and technical education, real, hands-on training for real jobs. Welding. Plumbing. Electrical work. And increasingly, nursing, EMT and firefighting, automotive repair, pipefitting, and agriculture.

The scale is the surprising part. As of 2026, the program supports 93 community colleges across all 50 states, plus Guam. Its latest round alone put more than 3 million dollars into those schools. And it has now backed some 13,000 students in learning skills that lead to stable, well-paying careers, with the program recently expanding overseas too.

Frontman James Hetfield has explained why it matters to them. Touring, he points out, runs entirely on skilled trades: the electricians, drivers, cooks, and mechanics who make every show possible. The band said it wanted to reinvest in exactly those kinds of workers.

No splashy campaign. No album tie-in. Just a metal band deciding that the people who build and fix and wire the world deserve a shot, and quietly footing the bill for thousands of them 🤘

08/20/2026

Happening almost in our back yard!

The University of Maine is partnering with Penquis to build nine 3D-printed homes in the Bangor area using wood sawmill waste. Designed to withstand Maine winters, the development aims to serve as a model for addressing homelessness. Story link: https://tinyurl.com/5n8pk9xj

08/13/2026

At Ampli5E, we talk a great deal about creating opportunities, and how to do that. Sometimes an opportunity is really just giving someone access to the right tool.

A tool might be something you hold in your hand. It might be knowledge. A new skill. An introduction. A teacher. A mentor. A connection. Sometimes it is simply someone who knows something you don't know yet and is willing to show you.

Because there is where you are.
And then there is where you want to go.

And somewhere in between... is the tool, and bridge, that helps you get there.

08/12/2026

What do you LOVE about THOW? What don't you LOVE? The windows on this one caught my eye!

Discover this delightful contemporary cottage tiny home. The interior is a stunning surprise..
Full article 👇 💬

08/11/2026

It's here... well, almost!

The custom gooseneck trailer for the Kearsarge Regional High School Tiny House on Wheels Project has been completed!

Built by Tiny House Basics, one of the premier manufacturers of trailers designed specifically for Tiny Homes on Wheels, this trailer will serve as the foundation for our Kearsarge Regional High School students' build throughout the coming '26-'27 school year.

The trailer is currently being prepared for transport from Pennsylvania to New Hampshire, where it will soon arrive at Kearsarge Regional High School.

Trailer Specifications:
• Main deck: 24' long × 8' wide
• Gooseneck deck: 10' long × 8' wide
• Total build platform: 34' long × 8' wide

In just a short time, this steel frame will become something much bigger than a tiny house. It will become a classroom, a construction site, a place where students develop real-world skills, confidence, teamwork, and pride in creating something with their own hands.

Stay tuned—we'll be announcing when the trailer arrives at KRHS. We can't wait to share the next chapter of this incredible project with all of you!

08/10/2026

A DREAM STOP FOR ME. 🛠️❤️

Stopped at Shelter Institute in Maine today — not my first time here, and I suspect it won’t be my last!

Taking one of their build classes has been on my list for a LONG time… and I’m thinking 2027 might finally be the year.

I love wandering through the retail shop. Every imaginable book on building and making… furniture, architecture, different building styles, bungalows, woodworking, shop class for everyone and so much more. I could spend hours just looking through the books.

And the tools here…

Oh, the tools! 😂

Tool belts, building tools, carving instruments, gardening tools, cooking tools… beautiful, useful, wonderfully made things everywhere you look.

YES, I could wander around here forever. There’s something about being surrounded by all these books and tools… and thinking about everything you could learn to make with them, that gets me excited.

2027, Shelter Institute? Hmmm… I think it might finally be time. ❤️🔨