Creativity and effort makes woodworking satisfying

Irae Mautoatasi

Mr. Masimer teaches woodworking, and Alia is enjoying his class.

Irae Mautoatasi, Reporter

WOODWORKING is one of the many CTE classes that Granger offers. Students learn about and create exciting projects. Alia Lokeni (12) just started taking the class this year. “I thought it was a really fun idea because I haven’t tried woodworking before. My sisters before me had tried it and liked it,” she said.

Lokeni is taking Wood 1 and 3. The two classes share differences and similarities. “I don’t think it’s that different, but in Woods 3 you have a lot more freedom to do what you want. The teacher just lets you have at it. You give the ideas, and he says OK, go for it.”

In Lokeni’s Wood 3 class, she can choose her next project. “I picked to build a basket. I’m making all the weave parts and the edges that fit into the style. I’ve always wanted to try weaving something like a picnic basket or something of the like,” she said. One of the more recent things she has created is a pen. Students are provided the metal parts and have to shape the wood pieces that connect it and make it into a pen.

Vladimar Ruiz (12) is an other student who is taking two woodworking classes. “I took it my freshman year, and it was pretty fun, so I’m taking it again this year.” Ruiz took woodworking twice because he didn’t take it in his previous years and wanted to have as much time as he could. “My passion came from my freshman year when I was in Woodworking 1, and I would make stuff and it would turn out pretty good. One of the things we made was a box, and it was one of the best in the class,” he said.

Like other CTE classes, woodworking shares its difficulties as well. “One of the hardest things is making things because you don’t know what could happen. Yesterday I spent a couple of months working on my nightstand and it completely broke on me, so I had to restart,” Ruiz said. Despite these things, there’s a lot of joy that comes out of woodworking for the students who are passionate about it.

“I love woodworking because I love to make things out of wood. It’s something that’ll be useful in life, and it’s very common to do,” Benjamin Maldonado (11) said. He has taken woodworking for about two and a half years and decided to take it again this year. “My passion came from welding, and then I decided to go to woodworking because it seemed more fun and creative.”

The nightstand project students had to make was a harder one for Maldonado this year. “Seeing the parts and how it was going to look was hard, but it’s easier than things I’ve done in the past.”

Woodworking inspires some students to be able to have this kind of work in their future, Maldonado being one. “I might make furniture parts, houses, tables and other things that I can sell to people. I hope that I’ll be able to create new projects and things people might like.”