BOARDMAN, Ohio - Eight Boardman High School (BHS) graduates left behind a storage shed they built using skills they learned in their Woods 4 class.

The maroon and white storage shed will be used to collect cans and bottles as a part of the high school's recycling program.

“BHS needed a dry outside space to store all the recyclable materials collected by National Honor Society volunteers each week,” said Environmental Science teacher Amanda Rigby.

In order to get the funding they needed for the storage shed, Rigby and Marvin Aeschbacher, an Industrial Arts teacher, came together and wrote a grant for the materials needed to build the shed.

“Once the grant came through and the students started to build, they were giving me daily updates on their progress. I’ve never seen them so excited,” said Rigby.

The Boardman Schools Foundation for Excellence supplied $1,750 for the wood, maroon siding and a heavy-duty door all used to build the 8x8 shed.

In all, the project took about a month to design and build. Some of the materials took longer to arrive than anticipated which had students finishing the project just days before they graduated. 

As a part of the BHS Pre-Apprenticeship Program, many of these students are in line for apprenticeships with local skilled trade unions.

"My Woods 4 students this year approached this project with a lot of enthusiasm. I could see how they used everything they’ve learned from trial and error and many projects over four years in the woods program,” said Aeschbacher.

Students involved include Trinity Sewruk, Nate Christmas, Ricky Boyarko, Tommy Doerr, Zack Dwyer, Ben Zilavy, John Zych and Aidan Wittman.