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03/27/2024 08:30 AMWhether they become involved in the fields of woodworking, manufacturing, or any other hands-on trade, one of the most important things for students to know is that there are opportunities for a future career in which they have already established a foundation. This is what Michael Cole teaches the students in his woodworking courses at East Haven High School (EHHS) and Joseph Melillo Middle School (JMMS), going far beyond their classroom projects.
“The biggest thing is just giving them an opportunity to even see if they're interested in it,” Michael says. “I'm well aware of the fact that when I see 100-something kids every week, 80 percent of them probably have no interest in pursuing this as a career, but at least knowing that it's an option.”
Michael is a recent addition to the East Haven teaching faculty. Michael completed his student teaching with the EHHS manufacturing program in spring 2023, after which became a teacher at both the high school and the middle school during the current academic year. As part of his job offer, Michael began the manufacturing program at JMMS.
The manufacturing courses at EHHS are part of the district’s broader Careers in Technical Education (CTE) program, which offers its students experiential education in a variety of trades to either prepare them for a career immediately out of high school or gain an advantage into higher education. Michael sees that students in the manufacturing program at JMMS are already getting a great head start when it comes to gaining “foundational skills” for hands-on trades.
“They call it the manufacturing program because they want it to be a feeder program into the manufacturing program and, generally, the CTE program at the high school,” he says. “It’s a combination of foundational manufacturing skills, but also woodworking skills, general sketching, design, engineering-type skills, as well.”
Some examples of the projects that students at JMMS have worked on this year include pencils holders that can hold six pencils, as well as cell phone holders, toy homes, and four-sided lanterns.
As part of these projects, Michael says that students at JMMS are working with manufacturing concepts such as “measuring, planning, blueprinting, sketching…really getting a sense of spatial awareness, how to create something from a design, but then bringing tools into it,” in addition to correctly learning how to use devices such as drills presses.
Michael adds that a “huge part” of manufacturing and woodworking education is requiring students “to start developing a level of maturity” that comes with making them responsible around equipment that can be harmful and used incorrectly. With a certain level of maturity comes the ability for the students to be independent self-starters and come up with ideas for their own projects, only improving as they move up to the high school.
“They're given a fair amount of freedom in this class—setting their own pace, choosing their own projects, selecting their own designs, et cetera. So, there's a creative element,” Michael says. “Next year, when we start sending kids up there from this program, they should be able to kind of do more advanced stuff...because they've had a little more exposure to it.”
At EHHS, students have worked on carved cutting boards, bookcases, and numerous other projects they can select to create. Whether at the high school or middle school, Michael says that seeing students build their confidence to go on their own with their projects is “the best part of the job.”
Students may start off the year asking Michael many questions in order to simply develop the foundation needed to construct a design. By the end of the year, though, they often walk into class with woodworking as a favorite hobby.
“They come right in, they grab their projects off the shelf, and they immediately start getting to work,” says Michael. “They spend the whole 42 minutes that we have together completely into it, just totally wrapped up in what they're doing. That is so awesome to see.”
To keep students interested in woodworking, manufacturing, and other hands-on trades, Michael knows that it is important for parents to support their kids. Michael believes this is square one for a successful future, regardless of what career path the students choose to follow.
“The support of the community is imperative in any of these programs,” Michael says. “I think the biggest thing to support what we're doing at the school is to support the kid at home. And that's not just for my class—it's for all of their schooling, just to have that backing at home. It’s the surest way to get the kids to be successful. I think that's everybody's goal here, including mine.”