It has been a long and productive summer here at Grants Pass High School. It all started with a course in guitar building in which 20 educators from around Southern Oregon participated. A special thanks to the crew that make it all possible; Steve Brown, Nancy Chang, Debbie French, David Lake and James Huntington Cordero (thank you for the fantastic photos) were the most patient, knowledgeable and committed group of folks we could have ever asked for. They worked with us while enduring long hours, stifling heat and a whole lot of silly questions. This was the culmination of months of effort by so many people at the STEM project (www.guitarbuilding.org), Rogue Community College, SOESD and of course our own heroes at Grants Pass School District 7. The fruits of all of the labor will be borne this school year as two full sections of guitar fabrication will take place here in our own little woodshop. Our hope is to fill these classes at the high school and to provide our students with the most amazing hands-on STEM education imagineable. Oh, and every kid will walk out of here at the end of the semester with their very own custon, hand-built electric guitar! Just like we did this summer!
Below are a couple of videos from the Summer Institute showing the swirl dipping process. This was one of the really exciting portions of the class as we all got a little bit of instant gratification when the bodies came out of the finishing booth (a trash can).
All slide show photos are courtesy of James Huntington Cordero. Thank you James!
One of the coolest days of the Institute was when John Page graciously paid us a visit. He spent the afternoon with all of us providing advice and just chatting with all of us. Our instructors got the special treatment when John invited them out to visit his shop in Sunny Valley. If the pictures that James took during the visit are any indication, they had a great time. Thank you John!..... and we can't wait to have you here at the High School spending a little bit of your valuable time with the kids in our new Guitar Fabrication classes!
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