As some Bradford West Gwillimbury high-school students prepare for a construction competition this week, their teacher is hoping local residents will help build up the school’s supply of wood and tools.
Four teams of Bradford District High School students will compete at a Skills Ontario preliminary competition at Bear Creek Secondary School in Barrie on Wednesday, with the chance to eventually make it to a Skills Canada challenge in Toronto this May.
Kieran Fleming, the students’ teacher, said any donations from local residents will help students learn more skills through construction and custom woodworking classes.
“The course is not underfunded in any way,” he said, but donations of tools, hardware, wood or money will give the students more opportunities.
“They could potentially use hardwood instead of pine,” for example, he said.
Students work on a wide range of projects, from plumbing, to drywall, to woodshop.
Fleming said they also regularly make items for the school, such as cabinets and boxes, as well as for Honourable Earl Rowe Public School, for which they made birdhouses, bat boxes, and a standing desk for students.
“The students are really interested. They come at their lunch to help (on projects),” he said.
While any donations would be appreciated, Fleming said what they could use the most is wood, even scraps.
“We go through a lot of wood. That’s the thing we can go through a lot of.”
Other suggested items for donation:
- Wood of any sizes or shapes
- Screws, nails, nuts and bolts
- Plumbing supplies like copper pipes, pex pipes, and fittings
- Drywall and accessories
- Tiling and grout
- Electrical wires, device boxes, lights, switches
- Hand tools, drill and router bits, sandpaper, and wood lathe tools
Rona in BWG recently donated about $2,000 worth of materials to the school for the students competing in Wednesday’s competition so they could do some pre-building.
Four students are building a shed, two are building a bench, one is building a table, and another one is doing electrical installation, Fleming said.
“(The donation) was really, really great. It was a huge stress reliever for me,” he said. “We can potentially donate (the shed) to someone, sell it, or keep it for future reference. The program is in good shape.”
Anyone interested in donating to the construction and custom woodworking classes should contact Kieran Fleming at [email protected].
