Staff photo/Jane Howard Eight community members gathered in the CC HS industrial arts department Monday, October 5, 2009 to talk about how the program could be restored and upgraded. The department has been downsized over the years, but the need for vocational training has not decreased. (L-R) Shop teacher Eli Hill, Brad Thompson, Craig Horak.
The Cook County High School industrial arts department has seen better days. Over the years, it has lost space to other departments, and it is sorely lacking in some of the equipment and facilities needed to adequately introduce students to the trades.
In a document outlining what he perceives to be the department’s needs, teacher Eli Hill stated, “I think it’s important to give our students a chance to experience the wide variety of career opportunities that tech ed can offer because, quite simply, there is a growing shortage of skilled labor and many of these students will be looking at these careers in the future.”
School board member Leonard Sobanja is a champion of the industrial arts department, and last month, the school board gave him the goahead to assemble a group of skilled tradesmen to discuss the program.
On Monday, October 5, 2009, a group of eight men gathered in the school’s wood shop. According to Stuart Jackson, longtime CCHS shop teacher, “The facilities are back to what the building was like when it was built in the 1950’s. In fact, it might be worse. …It’s worse than what it was in 1953.”
What happened? In the early 2000s the school administration decided to put more emphasis on high-tech education. Well over $70,000 was spent on high-tech equipment such as robotics, and more traditional pieces of the tech ed department’s equipment were dispensed with. Some of that equipment is now owned by trades people throughout the county. According to Jackson, much of the high-tech equipment broke and was thrown away.
At the same time, the industrial arts department lost at least half of its space to social studies and math classrooms.
According to Sobanja, a needs assessment completed in 2003 by the Arrowhead Regional Development Commission discovered that closing high school shop departments has resulted in higher numbers of kids in juvenile detention.
Sobanja said he keeps hearing from people who want to know why kids are not being given the opportunity to learn a variety of industrial arts so they can find out if they might want to go into those trades. Offering a variety of classes is important, he said, because a kid might not like one thing but might want to make a living doing another.
Not all of our kids are going to go to college, CCHS shop teacher Eli Hill told the eight others who were gathered October 5. Not everyone is going to work at a desk behind a computer, added Brad Thompson, owner of Thompson Performance.
Industrial arts may be what draws some students to school each day. “When I was a kid, we used to fight over who got to work at Cobblestone over the summer,” said Craig Horak, owner of Tire and Auto Lodge in Grand Marais. He graduated from CCHS in 1999 and as a student was instrumental in getting equipment and supplies donated to the department. Projects that needed to be done 10 years ago have never been done, he said.
Hill gets $4,500 to work with each year. Students pay $25 per class, which pays for one or sometimes two projects. He depends on donations of supplies from people in the community.
What is needed
Hill said storage is a problem. He referred to lockers stacked three high under the table where the meeting was held, saying students cannot make wood projects bigger than what would fit into a single locker. They can’t even make an Adirondack chair, he said. Similarly, their metal shop projects must be small, while more valuable lessons could be learned from building something larger, such as a snowmobile trailer. Many kids would like to work on their snowmobiles or cars at school, but the school has no way to safely store them outside.
“Although we work on ATVs and snowmobiles,” Hill wrote, “they have to be rolled on carts down the hallway to be brought into the shop. Thiscan be disruptive to classes and hard on the floors and doors. We also have to bring lumber and metal into the shop through the doors or a nearby window. This is not only unnecessarily difficult but potentially dangerous…We don’t have enough room in the shop to store [wood] inside, but when wood from outside is brought in, the changes in moisture [and] temperature cause boards to warp.”
The welding room is too small to fit a classroom of students, and it doesn’t have the electrical power it needs. Metal casting equipment has been offered to the school, but the shop needs a propane line to make use of it. A lathe has been donated, but it needs more power than is available and it won’t fit through the school doors.
Hill has a drafting lab with 20 drafting tables but only four computers. He could provide the school with engineering software (with free upgrades for life), but he can’t efficiently teach a class how to use it if only four students can operate it at one time.
A large pole barn sits outside the industrial arts department, but the ¼ of it that is available has an inadequate door, a dirt floor and no electricity or heat.
What can be done
Leonard Sobanja asked the group to help him come up with a list of projects that could be done at no cost or little cost. Some of the projects could be done with the help of the students. He also suggested that they make a list of large projects that could be included in a referendum, perhaps as soon as next fall.
About five years ago, Sobanja said, a referendum failed the first time around, but when specific needs were outlined, a second referendum passed. He hopes the community will understand the needs in the industrial arts department as well as the importance of this type of education for students that will be drawn more to these trades rather than to professions requiring college degrees.
The group toured the areas surrounding the wood shop and welding room and discussed various ways needs could be met. They talked about the possibility of reclaiming some of the other spaces in school, building an auto shop onto the north side of the building, and finishing off the industrial arts space in the pole barn.
The tentative plan
Hill agreed to call local contractors and get quotes on electrical upgrades, propane hookups, concrete flooring for the pole barn, and updating the school’s computers. He will have the kids help him build an outdoor enclosure with the old tennis court fencing offered to him by Jeff Kern.
Hill will continue to utilize the volunteer help of people like Joe Thompson of Steve’s Sports, who comes in to teach kids about small engine repair. Brad Thompson offered some four-foot steel doors he has sitting around. Craig Horak said he has some industrial lighting he would like to donate. Ian Johnson offered to give them a “whale of a deal” on pouring concrete in the pole barn.
The group decided a good larger project to start working on might be finishing off the pole barn. A big project for the future could be trying to put in an auto garage with a lift.
“I think every opportunity to expand our tech ed program should be made, and I will be striving towards continuous improvement,” Hill wrote.
At the meeting, Hill said, “Hopefully we can do some things in the spring. …It would be great to get the ball rolling in that direction.”
People who would like to help can call Leonard Sobanja at (218) 387-2149.
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