Rain showers early will evolve into a more steady rain overnight. Low 49F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch..
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Rain showers early will evolve into a more steady rain overnight. Low 49F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch.
When Manciu initially started with the program, he and the students quite literally had to build from the ground up. “I didn’t have any curriculum,” Manciu said. “We didn’t have … anything for the kids to sit on. So I’m like, ‘Okay, this is a construction class, we build stuff, design and build your stool.’”
“You get to make something new every day, like we see progress in our work,” said senior Nolan Donivan. “Every day we make something like a little bit bigger better.”
“The reality is most of my students will not go into the trade, but the way this entire class is set up, they are going to have valuable skills to be able to take care of their own home so they don’t have to hire a contractor to do small projects,” Manciu said.
THE DALLES — Emphasizing the teaching of skills that students can utilize both in their careers and in everyday life, the construction program at The Dalles High School offers students the ability to learn and experience the different aspects of construction in a hands-on way.
Different from the more traditional woodshop classes, which focus on teaching students skills specific to woodworking, the construction program focuses on teaching a larger variety of skills like plumbing, electrical work, drywalling and carpentry.
Students can practice these skills in the classroom, utilizing modules. Paid for last school year through the vocational education fund, the modules give students hands-on practice in skills such as tiling, drywalling and residential wiring — to name a few — within the classroom, as opposed to traveling off campus to a construction site, thus preventing any loss of instruction time to transportation.
“With the electrical class, they actually learn what industry standard is for an outlet, a junction box, a light switch and actually put a light in and they run the wire all the way to the panel,” TDHS Construction Teacher Shawn Manciu said, “so they actually understand everything about it.”
Junior Avery Schwartz and senior Nolan Donivan work on putting together a piano stand for the school music department.
Kelsie Cowart photo
When Manciu initially started with the program, he and the students quite literally had to build from the ground up. “I didn’t have any curriculum,” Manciu said. “We didn’t have … anything for the kids to sit on. So I’m like, ‘Okay, this is a construction class, we build stuff, design and build your stool.’”
Students start off the course by taking the introductory class, where they learn basic skills such as blueprint reading and basic framing and building. After finishing the intro class, they can then take classes focused on electrical and plumbing, as well as a finishing skills class, where students learn how to put together the finishing details of a construction site like tiling, sheetrock, trim and crown molding.
“The reality is most of my students will not go into the trade, but the way this entire class is set up, they are going to have valuable skills to be able to take care of their own home so they don’t have to hire a contractor to do small projects,” Manciu said.
When Manciu initially started with the program, he and the students quite literally had to build from the ground up. “I didn’t have any curriculum,” Manciu said. “We didn’t have … anything for the kids to sit on. So I’m like, ‘Okay, this is a construction class, we build stuff, design and build your stool.’”
Kelsie Cowart photo
After students have completed those classes, they can then take the advanced construction class, where they put the skills they’ve learned thus far into projects, which range from smaller pieces such as building flower beds for the high school gardening club and a podium for the music department’s piano, to much larger community projects. According to Manciu, the members of the advanced class will be rebuilding the dugout of a local softball field.
“So right now, with the girl’s softball field, they’ve taken out the home dugout,” Manciu said. “This class will be over there digging out, pouring concrete and rebuilding from that entire dugout.”
In the future, he hopes to bring in larger projects that not only give the students experience in building every aspect of a house, but that also give back to those in need. “Eventually, where I want to get to is to start working with some organizations out of Portland, build tiny homes for the homeless and ship them out for the advanced class,” Manciu said.
“You get to make something new every day, like we see progress in our work,” said senior Nolan Donivan. “Every day we make something like a little bit bigger better.”
Kelsie Cowart photo
When asked what their experience had been like in the course, the students of the advanced class agreed that not only did Manciu make the class enjoyable, but they were also learning valuable skills to take with them after graduation.
“You get to make something new every day, like we see progress in our work,” said senior Nolan Donivan. “Every day we make something like a little bit bigger better.”
“It’s been really fun … and it’ll be good for the future,” noted senior Aby Ramey. “It’s a really fun environment.”
Something Manciu is excited to potentially implement in the future is a heavy equipment simulator class, with the end goal of giving students who take it certifications to operate heavy machinery.
With simulations for equipment such as forklifts, tractor operations, excavators and combines, Manciu believes a class would give students proper training and increase their opportunities for work, both during the summer and after graduation.
“The reality is most of my students will not go into the trade, but the way this entire class is set up, they are going to have valuable skills to be able to take care of their own home so they don’t have to hire a contractor to do small projects,” Manciu said.
Kelsie Cowart photo
“I [would] gear that for kids in this community that I actually certify them up to a certain point where … they can go get a summer job,” Manciu said. “I talked to some of the orchardists, they’re really excited about it, some of the wheat farmers are really excited about it, because then [the students are] already trained, they already have an idea, and they’re not going to destroy their equipment when they’re learning because I have an actual life simulator.”
While hoping to one day get up to six simulators for a class, Manciu is currently working on getting funding through a grant for at least one simulator. “I got a lot of the community support and excited for me to kind of get that going, but that is ... the future,” Manciu said.
“People typically have the mindset that school is for academics, that’s your science, your math, your English and that’s it, and that’s not necessarily the case anymore. There’s so much to learning, and I think our community has really seen the value in it,” said TDHS Communications Director Stephanie Bowen.
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