“”Last year, the Gateway Area Council Boy Scouts of America contacted staff at Logan High School to ask the construction class to build cabins for Camp Decorah in Holmen. The Boy Scouts needed to replace deteriorated canvas tents with some permanent, two and four person structures.
The construction class built a complete tiny house during the previous school year for an outside buyer. This year, one of the goals of the class project was to incorporate the building skills learned on the tiny house project and incorporate them into the mass production of building elements for multiple structures.
The students took the plans from the Boy Scouts, drew up digital sketch-up documents, read and measured from the plan, cut, built, and framed the cabin walls. The cabins were then built at Logan High School, were deconstructed, transported, and reassembled at Camp Decorah.
“This project gives the class a chance to learn about framing and building a structure but also practical hands-on applications of math and how math applies to the work site,” said technology and engineering teacher Justin Pitz. “At the same time, they understand that they are helping another organization with a project that’s beneficial to both groups as the students are building something that has a purpose in the community.”
The Boy Scouts offer the Camp Decorah location to programs such as the YMCA’s Camp Send a Kid and several other organizations that use the facilities for summer camp and training.
“I feel that this kind of community outreach project teaches students that the learning going on within our school walls does have outside relevance,” said school psychologist Ken Ortery. ”Projects like this also help keep people aware of how our students contribute in a positive way for the community.”””””[vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/JZqgS4fuFVo” align=”center”]””
