Freshman Class Builds Skills
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Every year, Freshman are required to take Freshman Seminar. The class is divided into two sections and in one semester they take Career Opportunities and Career Exploration, while in the other semester they take Service Learning and Leadership. In Career Opportunities and Exploration they learn how to create a resume, sit for interviews, look at different career fields like health, identify something they would like to do, and figure out what it takes to get that job. They also learn how to buy a car or house, the loan process, how much it takes to live in different parts of the country, and other life-long skills. In Leadership, the students are required to read a book on the different qualities that are found in leaders, engage in question and answer discussion, and assist the elementary teachers in their classrooms for three out of the five school days per week. This creates bonds between high school and elementary students, teaches the kids some responsibility in managing other people, allows them to be the older, more responsible kid, and hopefully gets them to look inward at their own character and behavior to think about what they might want to modify. In Service Learning, students take on a project to benefit the community.
Service Learning starts with generating ideas. The first task students have to complete is coming up with community needs and how to address those needs. They focus on the school or think of things the broader community needs. For example, the class has rebuilt the small shelters in Central Park and rebuilt many benches at Foreman (North) Park. Often, these ideas are the seeds for the next year's project.
The next step is learning how to create blueprints. Students are tasked with creating blueprints for whatever project we work on. This year was a little different though. Due to the complexity of the project, Mr. Silver created the blueprints, budget, and wrote the ROCCS Grant to get funding for the "puzzle tables." However, students were still required to create blueprints, material lists, and cost estimates for a personal project. The class also was tasked with creating an efficient tool for rolling up the sideline tapes at football games. Marley Katzmann's design was selected for that project due to its simplicity and effectiveness. It was built, tested, and then delivered to a very happy grounds crew.
Once the plans are done, students are tasked with cutting, joining, and finishing the project. This year, aside from the tape rollers, the class made four "puzzle tables." These tables have an inner cubby with a removable lid. It allows students to work on a small project, like a puzzle, inside the table, put the lid back on, and then get back to using the table as a regular fashion. The students from both first and second semester cut all of the dimensional lumber, joined the pieces together using wood glue, dowels, and pocket screws, sanded, and then finished them with stain and polyurethane.
Both sections did a fantastic job and learned a lot of new woodworking skills along the way. Many of them had only sparingly done any sort of construction project before. They put in a lot of work and two of the four tables were delivered to very happy and excited students and teachers last week. This week we delivered the other two. The Freshman class took a project from its infancy all the way to completion. They worked really hard and delivered a great final product that will be a testament to their hard work, willingness to learn new things, and ability to overcome obstacles for years to come. They all did a tremendous job and showed great Demon PRIDE.