A passion project coming out of the Outlook High School Trades Center is celebrating Canada’s 150th birthday and also giving back to the community.
Students in the Welding 10 class were busy all of last week with a uniquely Canadian project; metal maple leaf ornaments that can be stuck in the ground or put on display anywhere in your home. In the middle of each leaf is the number 150, the monumental birthday our nation celebrates this year.
Instructor Keith Theoret says the project is an all-around win for him and his students; the kids get to learn assembly line work skills, developing the tools necessary to perform specific job tasks, and they can also give back to the community that has been supportive of the program at the Trades Center from the beginning.
The metal maple leaf ornaments, which stand about 26 inches high, are being sold to the public. A post put on the Outlook buy and sell page on Facebook was the only form of advertising to get the word out, and Theoret says the reaction was fantastic.
“That was our only way of advertising,” said Keith. “And just from that, we’ve got about 130 orders.”
The class consisting of Brendan Barnett, Jayden Blosky, Jared Haapala, Kirk Haapala, Joseph Parkman, Marshall Rude, Chase Simonson, David Warwaruk, and Brendon Xilon started work on the maple leafs on Monday, June 12 for what was designed as a week-long project. Working in an assembly line, the students had specific tasks in front of them, whether it was grinding out rough edges or welding the metal rods to the leafs.
As of Wednesday, they had around 80 leafs made.
“It’s been good, the guys have been working hard, and they’re trying to establish a new record every day!” said Keith.
Theoret was glad to see such interest in the unique ornaments right from the start.
“I kind of expected to have to give a few freebies out just to build interest, but just from that buy-and-sell post, people jumped on it,” he said.
The positive reaction to the class’s Canada 150 project is an extension of the amazing relationship that the town of Outlook has always had with the high school, and Theoret says this was their way to try and give something back to a community that routinely supports the school and its students.
“The community reaction to it has been awesome, and that’s why we wanted to do it,” he said. “Someone asked me if I could make a maple leaf on a stick, and I just said ‘Yes, we could.’ I wondered if we should try and make money off it, and I said no. It’s a great opportunity for us to give back to the community. The community has always done a ton for the school, and we’re selling them for basically what they cost to make.”
