Keith McNeill
Clearwater Secondary School is unusually well equipped for a school of its size, in large part due to the support it receives from Wells Gray Community Forest and other community sponsors.
Recently that support enabled Grade 11 student Kaitlyn Marsel to create a unique project that combines metalworking, woodworking and creative design.
“I was happy to see the wood and metal combination,” said teacher Brent Buck. “It show the wide range of skills the kids are developing.”
Buck said Marsel learned last year how to create an image in the woodworking design lab and then carve it into wood using the woodworking shop’s CNC (computer numerical control) router.
This year, in her metalworking class, she made the metal base for her table, then went over the woodworking shop to design and then create the laminated wooden top.
She used a torch to give it a burned wood effect, then completed the finishing the woodworking shop.
“I think that in a typically small school that students would not have access to the breadth of equipment that we do,” commented principal Darren Coates.
“Our shops are very well outfitted due to the dedication of our past and current shop teachers and the support of the community. In a regular small school this would have been challenging but at CSS students are blessed with a well outfitted shop,” he added.