ERICKSON, Man. – The clatter of construction spills through a metal doorway leading into the carpentry classroom at Erickson Collegiate. Students here are pounding nails, sawing boards and sanding wood in an effort to build shelves of their own design.
Miranda Ledoux is among the industrious group of teenagers. The Grade 10 student appears cheerful while giving her shelf a smooth coat of Varathane. She plans to give the masterpiece to her mother as a gift.
“I like building things out of wood,” said Ledoux, seldom taking her eyes from her work. “It’s fun and I don’t find it hard.”
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Ledoux is one of 16 students enrolled in the carpentry program at Erickson Collegiate this semester. The program is housed in a one-room building next to the school.
Started in 1992, the carpentry course teaches woodworking skills that can be applied to cabinetry and furniture making. The students are coached by Lisa Chemerika, who started teaching the course in 1993.
Chemerika believes the program gives students skills that will aid them throughout their lives. Decision making and problem solving come into play as the students apply their newfound carpentry skills.
“Quite often, the non-academic students do really well in here,” said Chemerika, dressed in jean overalls and a flannel sweater. “It gives them something to feel really good about.”
Despite the merits of the course, funding was often a concern. Grant money kept the course alive, but access to those grants was seldom assured.
“Every time one grant ran out we had to run around looking for another one,” said Chemerika. “We wanted to get away from that uncertainty.”
Community involvement
In a show of support for the carpentry program, area residents banded together to help end the uncertainty. The result was an innovative approach to funding the school program.
With community support and government grants, a hardwood flooring venture was started in June of this year. It’s hoped that revenues from the venture will keep the carpentry course alive.
So far, the outlook is good.
“We’ve sold what inventory we have,” said Chemerika, “and we have orders coming in. We’re expecting to start showing a profit in the next couple of months.”
Wood for the venture comes from area farmers, who harvest ash trees and saw them into rough planks. The rough planks are then kiln dried and fed through a moulding machine in the school’s carpentry classroom. The end result is hardwood flooring, complete with tongue and groove.
The finished product is sold through the Beaver Lumber store in Erickson. Store owner Grant Carter takes no commission for selling the flooring, which retails for an average of $3.75 a square foot.
“It’s a very good product they are putting out,” said Carter, who serves on the committee overseeing the hardwood flooring venture. “I’m very pleased with the results.”
The ash wood has a distinctive grain that sets it apart from other types of hardwood flooring, Carter said. And the flooring milled at Erickson is three-quarters of an inch thick, ensuring longevity after it’s installed in a home.
“The stuff will last forever,” Carter predicted. “It’ll last a lifetime.”
The carpentry shop also mills wood casings to install around doors and windows. Chemerika hopes they can one day make wooden door panels to complement their line of products.
“It looks like there could be a good niche market for us. It’d be nice in the the future to experiment with other local lumber as well.”
In the meantime, area students continue to reap the benefits of a carpentry course. Jeannette Shannacappo, a Grade 9 student, is among them. After completing a month in the course, she was enthusiastic about what it has to offer.
“It’s the competition with the guys,” she said, when asked what she enjoys most about the program. “We can show them that we can do the same things as them, maybe even better.”
