Superior's school forest under construction
Oct. 25—DOUGLAS COUNTY — Superior High School students combined their talents to spruce up the school forest over a three-day period last week. Construction Academy students took the lead, turning rough plans into projects and directing freshmen to help.
"It just seemed like a natural fit to get my students involved or kind of do some of the lead work on the building projects and get the freshmen helping with whatever it happens to be — moving materials, driving screws, pulling things apart, putting things together," said academy teacher Justin Aulie.
One-third of the freshman class showed up each day. Half their time was dedicated to team-building activities and the other half to projects. The hours they spent clearing trails, digging holes for fence posts and building boardwalks will count toward their required community service hours.
The students dug in, impressing technical education teacher Adam Kuhlman.
"It's good to get them out here doing real projects and kind of seeing the value of what they're learning in the classroom, some practical application for it," he said.
Isak Coyle, a senior, helped lead a group building a fence around a pollinator garden. The project will make a mark at the school forest, a shared classroom space for all ages in the district.
"It feels good to give back knowing that all the kids are gonna be able to come here, have fun, see the nice garden that's going to be here next spring," Coyle said.
Many of the freshmen enjoyed the day, despite the chilly weather.
"So far it's been a blast," said freshman Skyler Mickelson, who was helping build a floating observation platform out of pontoon floats and boards. "It's pretty fun."
They're paying it forward, said Senior Project Coordinator Caitlin Knoll.
"They all got to experience it as a kid, and now they're going to help make it better for future kids," she said.
As part of the retooled senior project program, students in all grades must volunteer in the community during the school year — freshmen and sophomores must volunteer five hours; juniors 10 hours; and seniors 15 hours. The teens can find their own opportunities or tap into options Knoll brings to their attention during the year. The coordinator is planning a spring community service day with many options to choose from, as well.
The school forest workdays allowed students to earn community service hours and partner with older students.
"Seeing the freshmen and the upperclassmen kind of working together is cool. And hopefully that generates, too, some interest and some awareness for the programs," Knoll said. "It kind of goes both ways. They're helping us and hopefully there's some freshmen out here that are like 'Yeah, I want to do that.'"
Nonprofit organizations looking for volunteers who would like to pass word on to students can contact Knoll at
caitlin.knoll@superior.k12.wi.us
.
Construction Academy is a dual-credit class with Northwood Technical College that encompasses three classes — construction framing, print reading for building construction and related technical math. Students that take the class leave with a degree from the technical college as well as high school credits from SHS.
"We're always looking for projects in the community. It's hard to get that many school-related projects," Aulie said.
Past projects have included larger sheds, stairs for remote installation, chicken coops, even outhouses.
"We're open to anything," Aulie said.
Customers can provide the materials, or have Aulie source them.
"We pretty much do stuff for right around the cost of materials. We don't typically make a lot of money off of them. That's because the learning experience is the biggest part of it," he said.
Any surplus goes back into tools for the class.
Contact
justin.aulie@superior.k12.wi.us
for more information or to contract with the class for a project.
