FeaturesApril 17, 2016
Skills for life: Industrial arts program at Chaffee High School teaches woodworking, CAD drawing, metalworking and more
During her three years in the industrial arts program at Chaffee High School, Lindsey Koch has created many things, from a relatively simple wooden box for her grandmother to a recently completed, 18-foot-long steel trailer for her dad. Now, to cap off her senior year, Koch is nearing the finish line on a combined wooden secretary/shelving unit she designed herself after researching how similar pieces of furniture are put together...
During her three years in the industrial arts program at Chaffee High School, Lindsey Koch has created many things, from a relatively simple wooden box for her grandmother to a recently completed, 18-foot-long steel trailer for her dad.
Now, to cap off her senior year, Koch is nearing the finish line on a combined wooden secretary/shelving unit she designed herself after researching how similar pieces of furniture are put together.
"I'm definitely going to keep it," she said.
When the piece is finished, it will have cabinet space on the bottom with inlaid scrollwork on the doors, a desk in the middle, shelf space on top, and it will be crowned by a clock. Koch said she might even install lighting in the side panels where the glass will be "so it's like a showcase."
Overall, the look she's working to accomplish is antique.
"For a while, I probably won't put much in it," she said. "It's more of something you just want to look at."
The piece is headed for a competition at the end of the month, and after that it's likely to remain at her family home while Koch heads off to welding school in Ohio.
"I thought, 'go big or go home,'" she said, show up all the boys in the competition.'"
Koch's teacher, Jaron McMurry, said he's in awe of the things she's been able to do in the program he has worked to grow since he began teaching at the school in 2004.
Not only is Koch skilled in metal- and woodworking, but she's also excelled in his graphics, CAD drawing and engineering classes.
"She's a very talented student. Very talented," McMurry said.
Koch attributes her accomplishments not only to natural inclination, but to taking the industrial arts classes and learning firsthand just how mechanically oriented she is.
"I used to play sports, but I found that I like building stuff and I got more out of this class than sports," she said, attributing her success in the program to McMurry's teaching style -- and his willingness to let students tackle whatever projects they envision.
That includes the trailer that's now parked in Koch's father's garage, waiting to be sandblasted and painted bright orange to match the 1967 Chevelle the two recently worked to restore on weekends and evenings.
"It's kind of going to stick out," she said.
Her goal in building the trailer was to have something to use in hauling cars to car shows or transporting the ones that need restoration work, such as the Ford Bronco and pair of Mustangs the father and daughter have repaired in the past.
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For his part, McMurry works to help develop students like Koch so he can guide them to the path they might choose in life.
Although the industrial arts program has grown dramatically from the six hours of woodworking instruction McMurry began with 12 years ago, it isn't able to provide certification for students, just because of time and space constraints.
What it is able to do, he said, is give them enough training to show them just what they can do when they put their minds to it. It also offers up to 18 hours of dual-credit courses that can knock off half a student's freshman year at Southeast Missouri State University.
"It's a great thing we're doing with the dual-credit courses," he said.
The classes themselves also differ from most traditional settings, in which students usually study and take tests.
"This is one of the few classes where they have the freedom, you know, 'What do I want to do?'" McMurry said.
No question about it, the industrial arts program is popular.
"It just started to explode with the grants we were getting," McMurry said.
When space became tight in 2014, part of a $2.9 million bond issue helped pay for an expansion, and area businesses always donate supplies.
"Every time we've been without, somebody's stepped up and said, 'We'll help out,'" he said.
Whether students choose to build a trailer like Koch, or a table or bookshelf -- gun cabinets tend to be popular among the boys -- they put more of themselves into the work. And they learn a great deal in the process.
"Once they learn the skill, it's with them for life," McMurry said.
ljones@semissourian.com
(573) 388-3652
Pertinent address:
517 W. Yoakum Ave., Chaffee, Mo.
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