Hepworth Central Public School has five new buddy benches to install in its yard thanks to a special collaboration between two Bluewater District School Board (BWDSB) schools!
Katie Ferguson's Leadership class at Owen Sound District Secondary School (OSDSS) recently invited the Grade 8 students from Hepworth Central to a day of bench and team building under the guidance of the OSDSS Custom Woodworking teacher.
The project was realized through a successful science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) grant application by Kaitlin Hogenbirk, Grade 8 teacher at Hepworth Central. This past January, Kaitlin reached out to Katie to discuss ideas with a tech/STEM focus where the $1,200 could be applied. Given the two teachers' previous positive experience working together to facilitate Grade 8/secondary transitions, a collective decision was made to do something positive for the Hepworth school community!
With some ideas of projects that would fit within the budget parameters contributed by OSDSS Construction teacher Owen Ferguson, the Hepworth Central class settled on the building of buddy benches.
On Thursday, May 2, the 36 Grade 8s joined the Leadership class and Mr. Ferguson's Construction students to construct five buddy benches out of cedar. The Construction students provided a full-size bench model that they had completed to assist the Grade 8s with blueprint instructions, which were then drawn up using computer technology. Upon arrival at OSDSS, the Grade 8 students observed a lesson in Construction and blueprint creation by Mr. Ferguson before assembling the benches with their peers. Over the course of the day, all the students from the various classes worked collaboratively on the build project, which was completed by the day's end with the benches ready for delivery to Hepworth.
The partnership allowed for a fun, engaging, and hands-on experience where the students were able to join together and work towards a goal, while introducing the Grade 8s to the world of tech!