“We decided we were going to make new tables, so we got a grant from the Penn-Trafford Education Foundation to pay for it, found a design online and made that for six tables,” said Eric Crompton, who teaches the class.
The class earned $1,300 from the grant, which funded the project and materials necessary for construction.
Production and Engineering students worked in groups of five to measure, cut and build the tables over a two-week period.
“[The tables] looked pretty consistent across the board, even though they were built by 30-plus different kids,” Crompton said.
After salvaging the nuts and bolts from the old tables, along with other materials for miscellaneous projects, all the rotten wood was thrown out.
“The kids enjoyed tearing the old tables apart. That was fun,” Crompton said.
For senior Ayla Moffa, her favorite part was taking apart the tables and cutting the wood.
“I think it’s important for the students to have a good work area compared to the old tables there before,” Moffa said.
To enroll in the Production and Engineering class, students must complete the prerequisite of taking a previous STEM course.
“It is kind of a soft goal every year to come up with some way of finding a school improvement project with that class and building a larger project,” Crompton said.