At the beginning of this school year I sat down in my councilors office and decided to take construction 1 as a fun class to destress at the end of a long school day, and boy, that was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. In the past I have taken culinary, art and even ceramics because I have always loved to work with my hands to fill up the free time I have between classes and studying. When I signed up for the class, I thought it would be like any of the other electives I have taken. I thought I would be able to just walk in, do the work , have fun and walk out with a beautiful handmade project but I soon learned that a paintbrush is incredibly different from a miter saw whose blade spins at 3,500 rpm. From the first month of class, I learned that every tool in the shop has the capacity to help make a beautiful project. However, those same tools deserve respect and care. Something else that I learned is that everything in wood working and turning is permanent to some degree. If I made a mistake in art or ceramics, I could always erase a bad mark or smooth over some un-wanted bump but in wood working, everything is permanent. 

At first I was intimidated, but since then I’m happy to say I have learned that the permanent nature of wood working can be a positive thing. I have learned that mistakes are just opportunities to create something even better. I made lots of new friends in the class, and I was lucky enough to make some fun projects that I could be proud of. After a while, the time came when I would go into my first session with the lathe. I had no idea what to expect. I had never even seen a lathe. However, the whole experience turned out to be a whole lot less scary than I thought it would be. In a few days I had my first pen and I was eager to make more. Sometime later my teachers invited me to a wood turning meeting. I did not know what to expect at the meeting but what I got was much better then what I could have imagined. The presidents challenge for that month was to make a calabash. I saw so many gorgeous bowls and intricate ornaments that night. It was a cold winter night near Christmas, but the warm and welcoming atmosphere at the woodturning meeting more than made up for it. I would like to say a thank you to all my teachers and fellow club members for helping me learn and discover the wonderful world of wood working.

Jasmine Morataya