With the Los Banos May Day Fair approaching, students in the Agriculture Department were putting the finishing touches on their year-long projects, preparing to showcase their skills, growth, and wood work. One of the Ag department classes, wood shop teaches students how to build things out of wood. They learn how to use tools, measure, follow directions, and be safe while working.
The point of the woodworking class is to help students learn new skills that they can use in the future. Two students, Ruth Ceballos (9) and Melisa Gamez (9), have been working very hard on their projects all year long. They both made many things in the woodshop like a jewelry box, step stool, and a cutting board.
One of the first projects that are made at the beginning of the year is a jewelry box. It’s one of the first projects to get students more comfortable with the tools they will use around the woodshop. Ceballos (9) said, “Out of the three projects I made this year, my favorite one would have to be the jewelry box because it was one of the first things I ever made with wood.” She has entered her projects into the fair and is excited to see how well she did when the result of what place she came in after the fair ends.
After everyone is finished with their jewelry box around the beginning of winter break, the next project is a step stool. This project is known for being hard in its moments because of the more time it consumes. Ceballos (9) said, “The most difficult project was the step stool because it was bigger and I had many more pieces.”
Gamez (9) expressed, “The project that challenged me the most was the stepping stool because it was a lot of measuring and had to be perfect.” Even though it was hard, both girls felt more comfortable using woodshop tools.
The last project that was started was the cutting board and they began working on it around March. The purpose of this project is to gather all the experience and knowledge of the tools they have been using throughout the year. Students get to decide what materials they use for this project and how they want to design their cutting board. Gamez (9) stated, “My favorite project this year was cutting boards because I got to be creative with it.” The cutting boards gave an opportunity to be inventive and design them however the students like.
The projects allow for improvement as the students learn from their mistakes made the first time. Ceballos (9) claimed, “At the beginning of the year I needed a lot of help and I would often made mistakes, but I’ve gotten better at doing things independently.”
Over time students can learn and gain improvements from the last project and get better. These projects in woodshop also provide a way for students to be creative and show off at the May Day fair for everyone to see all of the hard work put in.
