Industrial arts is a middle school elective here at Concord that teaches students basic skills such as shopping wood, creating art, and selling their products. The elective is led by staff member Mike Arbuckle. Industrial arts is a class that aims to focus students’ creativity into making initiative pieces of art.
7th grader, Ruthella Stevens worked over the course of a few months to make a website to use the students’ creativity to give back to the community. In making this website, her mission was to use all the proceeds from the sales to help with future purchases of the program. In order to make a purchase, you must email Mike Arbuckle at [email protected].
Arbuckle believes this class is a really important for both Concord Middle School and the Concord community as a whole. When asked why he thought it was important, he stated that he feels: “It’s important for kids to know how to do basic skills trades, especially as they become adults. They can take things they learned in the class and turn them into great careers.” Arbuckle also states, “ There are extraordinarily talented students that come up with creative design and make those designs into something special.”
8th grader Zack Stevens is one of many students who greatly enjoys the class. Stevens says, “I have a lot of creativity and there’s really not many ways to show it other than this class.” Stevens says, “I love creating wood and over the course of the year it’s really become a passion for me.” Stevens feels as though this class has greatly benefited him and he might chase it as a possible career option.
8th grader Hagen Stimer is another outstanding member of the class. Stimer loves to create art and loves to make shopwood. Stimer states, “It gives us a better hands-on experience instead of just working on Chromebooks all the time.” Stimer also notes, “I feel like the class is most important because of all the real-life experiences we get to do. The class allows us to get a better understanding of what it’s like to be an artist in the real world, or a woodworker in the real world.”
All the creations made in this class are given back to the Concord community, spreading the creative spirit of the students to the whole community.
