The 10,000-student district is back to normal class schedules for most students but teachers, like those throughout the region, are looking for very opportunity to carry on lessons outside when the weather permits.
But sometimes outdoor learning doesn’t necessarily include outdoor seating.
And the picnic tables were designed just for that, said Hamilton and Butler Tech Instructor Tim Carpenter.
“The picnic tables were already part of my curriculum,” said Carpenter, but school officials asked if he would be willing to build more this year to help provide outdoor learning spaces.
“The students took well to it (the table project). They worked bell to bell on them and got them done as quickly as we could so we could try to use them while the weather was nice,” he said.
Megan DelaFuente, a junior at Butler Tech’s Hamilton High School carpentry, said “to be able to do something for students so they can come outside it feels good.”
Her classmates and teachers have thanked her and the other student builders, she said.
Senior Mary Altizer was able to study her math lessons in the bright, morning sunlight Friday and appreciated the student-made tables.
“It’s a great idea and it gets kids who need some more relaxing time better opportunity to do that,” said Altizer.
The tables are “comfortable,” she said and “they are pretty sturdy.”
Sophomore Brayden Conlin said “we need something like this with everything going on and the pandemic. We need to sit outside. It’s fun and they did a good job.”
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