Woodworking Class Overview

The woodworking class at Eckerd Academy at Deer Lodge is taught by a skilled woodworking professional who is also a former youth counselor with extensive experience in therapeutic group process. It is designed to give students the necessary skills to produce a wide variety of finished wooden pieces, while encouraging creativity, reinforcing problem solving and math skills, increasing self-esteem and developing the artistic voice of each student. The class incorporates components from Odyssey of the Mind, the international educational program that provides hands-on creative problem-solving opportunities for students.

The woodworking shop, considered to be the best in the region, is designed for maximum instruction, inspiration and function. The workspace accommodates an outstanding selection of modern equipment, plenty of room for safe operating practices and individual workbenches.

Students work at their own pace to complete graded projects, ranging from name tags, octagonal wooden clocks and chess boards to spice racks, bird houses, pine wood derby cars and more. The students learn and apply the safe and appropriate use of a variety of woodworking tools from basic hand tools to precision machinery.

In addition, the class utilizes experiential education extensions to demonstrate a progression of math applications in a practical setting, ranging from simple addition to geometry and trigonometry.

Upon graduation, most students take pride in completing several projects and having a new avenue for artistic expression and relaxation.