SANDPOINT — Rebecca Linck had just wrapped up a Facebook conversation about the affordability and future of North Idaho, but one of the comments wouldn’t escape her mind.

“What are you going to do about it, Rebecca?” Linck recalled a resident replied to her.  

Instead of taking offense or going on the defensive, Linck got to thinking. That’s where the idea for the Pend Oreille Trade Cooperative and a new trade school came to life, but Linck said she had no idea if it would ever get off the ground. 

"[Linck] does a post, and it became something out of ‘Frozen,’ but instead of ‘Do you want to build a snowman?’ it was ‘So you want to build a trade school?’” Kendra Dodge, executive administrator of POTC, said. “Then she held a meeting ... and the turnout at the initial meet and greet of interested individuals was mind-blowing.” 

Now formed with a board of directors, an LLC filing and a pending 501(c) nonprofit application, Linck said the community’s response to her idea was overwhelming. Linck said she believes a trade school with a focus on increasing local career pathways is what Bonner County is missing. 

The POTC board is focused on getting their initial trade school off the ground by June 2026, but their grand vision for the school goes much bigger than that. Linck said she wants to expand the school as it progresses to include local trades and eventually an interactive children’s museum based around the trades. 

Linck said the group wants to innovate on the typical trade school by building an interconnected web of classes. It starts with a tiny home, which Linck said is where hands-on education will take place as the classes work alongside each other to build a functioning tiny home. 

"Utilizing plumbers, electricians and having a blank canvas for all the other trades to work on,” Linck said. “All the students will work collaboratively to build this project.” 

For Linck, the trade school is personal. She said her son, who lost his sight in an accident when he was 13 years old, wants to become a carpenter.  

Linck said there aren’t opportunities out there for him, and she wants to be a part of the change to give those less fortunate a new path. 

"He wants to create things. That's the passion behind this,” Linck said. “They don’t want a handout; he wants a hand up. He wants an opportunity, somebody to teach him how to do it, so he can do it.” 

One of the founding members and a prospective teacher is Joe Wilson, a fifth-generation carpenter who has spent the last 47 years working in the trades. Wilson said as he’s gotten older, he’s realized he can’t continue in the trades forever and wants to pass down his wealth of knowledge to the next generation. 

Wilson said the initial ride has already been a whirlwind, but that he sees the need for more trade school opportunities in the region. 

“The youth are not coming into any of the trades in my industry,” Wilson said. “I want to see it become a big thing and share my knowledge with these kids.”  

Linck said the group is planning fundraising efforts, to acquire space, potentially at the former Coldwater Creek campus in Ponderay. Linck said the plan is to begin small with a pilot program and build based off community feedback. 

The group is hoping to schedule a meeting at the end of January where residents can pitch their ideas and give feedback. 

"It’s not about a school, because Pend Oreille Trade is nothing more than an idea, and it doesn’t exist unless the community builds it,” Linck said. “I can’t build a trade school, if this is something the community wants, the community needs to build it.”