Design Tech students lend a hardworking hand to teachers

If you enter the third-floor lab room, you might encounter groups of students with drills and hammers in their hands. But don’t worry, they won’t bite. They are just student builders from two Design Technology classes.

From a rat maze to book shelves, ten teams of Design Tech’s student builders have been constructing a variety of woodworks based on the requests of a few teachers. But it’s not the first year it’s been happening.  The project was first implemented when the Art Department asked Design Tech’s help to build a piece of furniture it needed. “The shelf that stores all the rulers in my room is made by a group last year too,” pointed out Dr. Peter Griffin.

This year marks the third consecutive year Dr. Griffin utilized the project to give students opportunities to practice construction. “It is one thing to design stuff. But if you don’t actually make it, you never fully understand what you are doing.” Dr. Griffin went on to explain the project’s purpose: “It is important for folks to go through the entire design and building process [from] start to finish.” As Dr. Griffin noted, the project is an effective hands-on approach to apply design and construction lessons. Yaya Yu (12C), who has been building a bulletin board with her teammates for Mr. Will Zimmerer, also commented: “This project is really useful for me who want to study design in the future. I can apply the tools and supplies we learned [from the project] to other design projects.”

Some students believe that helping teachers this way is a chance to express gratitude for them. “We think it’s a great opportunity to experience cutting, scheming, nailing, and painting, [but also to] repay for our librarians who have done such good [for] the school,” said Taeyon Kim (12A) as he built a book stand for the school library.

To provide products of the best quality to their customers, students have been investing a lot of time and effort in their works. Even well before the midterm exams, the designing process was already finished, and ever since then, all teams have been sawing, assembling, and smoothing the construction wood everyday. Victoria Liu (12A) who is currently creating a bookshelf for Mrs. Ariana Sanders shared her group’s progress at the start of this month: “We are almost done. We only have to polish and paint the bookshelf.”

As the year comes to an end, students are planning to deliver their works by the end of the quarter to their clients. Many are proud about their team’s achievements and the experience they acquired through the project. With no major injury involved and students content with their results, the Design Tech project is coming to a positive and fruitful end.

Featured Image – Natalie Man hammers a nail into a wood piece Courtesy of Stephanie Chen