Cubbies, Art Displays and Poster Storage: All Thanks to Woods & Metals at CHS

John Vargas Lopez, Trent Holland, David Fernandez Santiago and Wyatt Widmer stand around the newly installed cubbies that they built. Photo credit: David Harvill

In April, Peshastin Dryden Elementary school reached out to the Woods class at Cascade High School: they wanted new cubbies for the office. The students in the Woods class were excited to accept the challenge. They started by creating designs and getting the elementary school's opinions. They picked a simple design for the students to start to create. 

John Vargas Lopez (12), Trent Holland (11), David Fernandez Santiago (12), and Wyatt Widmer (11) were the four students who took on the challenge of building the cubbies.

“The hardest part of the whole prosses was probably the actual designing part, because we made like six different prototypes and had to modify them, or the jousting because they kept shifting and we had to realign them,” said Widmer. 

The cubbies “are for extra storage for Peshastin Dryden Elementary,” said Fernandez Santiago. Santiago enjoyed the whole process, which took about two weeks. We “cut parts, assembled the shelves, and waited patiently for coats of blue paint – chosen to match PD colors – to dry,” said Santiago Fernandez. 

In addition, the Metals class accepted an offer for an assignment to help Icicle River Middle School (IRMS). The metal students were tasked with constructing 9 foot tall by 4 foot wide metal displays to hold artwork in the garden next to IRMS.

Of the students tasked with constructing the metal display, “Azrael Simon has played a primary role in the construction of these displays and has become a very competent welder along the way,” said David Harvill, CHS Woods & Metals teacher.  

The metal displays were a lengthy project, “It took about four to six hours to make one frame with the hardest parts being making the measurements on the steel and welding the inside corners of the frames, because it was at a weird angle,” said Harvill. 

Plans are in the works to construct a storage system for the ASB closet as part of the class as well: Leadership students Macie Hiatt (11) and Cruz Martinez (11) designed the concept. ASB approved the purchase of materials; Woods and Metals is waiting for the materials to be delivered, and construction will begin on this project too.