Students at Arkansas City High School are taking their carpentry class to the next level with school project fit for the real world, according to a press release from USD 470.
The class is building a storage shed from scratch, using the skills they have learned in the classroom to bring the project to life.
Instructor John Headrick designed the project to give students an opportunity to put their knowledge to the test and to learn skills that could benefit them for a lifetime.
“This has been a fun project the students have really seemed to enjoy,” Headrick said. “There is good money to be made as a gopher or carpenter but regardless of their chosen career paths, they’re learning skills that will help them with everyday chores around the house — things that could save them a lot of money in the future.”
Students have been working on the shed since right before Christmas and should be completed by the end of the semester, the high school said.
Headrick hopes they’ll have everything completed including painting and finishing it out. The storage shed will ultimately be used at the middle school.
David Metzinger, ACHS Junior, told USD 470 the project has been fun and he hopes to use the skills he’s refining as a combat engineer for the military.
“In Carpentry, we learned safety protocols for the workshop and made hope chests which was fun because it allowed our creativity to run wild during the design process,” Metzinger said. “While this job has been less creative, it has more pieces and parts to put together which helps us understand the process better.”
“I’m proud of the work the kids are doing,” Headrick said. “It’s amazing to see what they can accomplish when they work together and apply what they’ve learned to a real-world project.”
