By Chloe Futrell, Features Editor
The smell of sawdust and the sound of hammering could be heard and smelled within the halls of First Flight last spring. Carpentry students diligently worked to perfect their final projects – one-of-a-kind handcrafted tables.
“(First Flight) Rotary gave us a grant that came to the participants in the design, production and marketing of the woodworking project that the kids built,” Carpentry teacher Skip Saunders said. “The furniture was designed by Ms. (Camie) Romano’s Art II class when she was teaching 3D design.”
The First Flight Rotary is a civic organization that meets weekly to discuss how it can help the community, schools and businesses. The generous grant enabled Saunders and Romano to purchase needed supplies, while FFHS journalism students got microphones and other recording equipment to help expand their multimedia capabilities.
“After several years of research, they thought the best thing they could do was to assist high school and college students to learn skills and to learn business practices,” Saunders explained.
Students from the Carpentry, Art II and Publications classes worked together to create and advertise carefully crafted and designed pieces of furniture.
“This was the first (grant) under this economic development focus to support student education in technical skills and business skills,” First Flight Rotary member Carl Classen said.
Saunders works with his students to help them better develop these technical skills, letting them experience more “real-world” scenarios. Saunders also brings in woodworkers to mentor the students, so that they can get a better understanding of the carpentry field.
“The mentors come in and meet them,” Saunders said. “They talk about what they do well, they get to know the woodworker and what their background is.”
But students gain more than just carpentry experience: Saunders tries to better his students’ writing skills as well.
“Each week on Friday they write a reflective journal on that previous week,” Saunders said. “When I edit and grade the journals, I can try to improve their writing and their ability to compose the written word.”
Saunders uses these journals to gain a better understanding of the students and how they are doing in the class so he can better attend to their needs. After the tables are completed, the students give a presentation about their work in front of their peers, mentors and faculty members.
The Rotary members are also part of the process when it comes to the tables. Classen was able to see the students in action and see the final product. The tables were purchased in a silent auction held at the Oktoberfest choral concert, with the money going back into the Carpentry program. The self-sustaining aspect of the table-building project is just one of its unique aspects.
“It was really interesting to see the student artwork (designs) they came up with and then to see how the carpentry students turned those ideas into actual products,” Classen said.
Saunders’ students enjoy taking the designs from paper and turning them into real-life creations.
“All of them were in over their head,” Saunders said. “In fact, they would have liked the whole school day to be involved with that kind of work, and they got a chance to apply the knowledge they learned in the classroom.”
Junior Chloe Futrell can be reached at futrellch1114@daretolearn.org.
