The Crookston High School’s Community Projects class has been busy so far this school year, and a few of the students most recent project had to do with making new pub tables for the Crookston Sports Center. The tables will sit behind the Xcel Energy seats in the Blue Arena and serve as an area for people to stand by and lean on during hockey games.
Travis Oliver teaches the Community Projects class, and after talking with Crookston Parks & Recreation Director Jake Solberg, he chose a few students from his class to tackle the project. Solberg provided more detail on how the idea came to be. “Believe it or not, I was just sitting at home with my wife talking about ideas, and she came up with this great idea of having some tables that you could lean up against when you watch the games,” said Solberg. “I then talked with Travis Oliver because he and his classes do a lot of good work for the community, and I gave him the idea, and he ran with it. They look great, and it’ll be nice to have them be used.”
Solberg also mentioned he is incredibly proud and pleased with the work done on the tables. “I appreciate all the work and time the kids put into the tables,” said Solberg. “I appreciate their willingness to help the community and put together a project like this.”
The students selected for the project were all seniors and have worked on many projects through classes they’ve taken with Oliver. The students were Mason Owens, Erik Coauette, Evan Christensen, Joseph Brule, and Jacob Hesby.
Erik Coauette said the project was like one he did in the past, and he had a fun time making the tables. “The first project I ever did was last year with the fire tables that we made,” said Coauette. “This was very similar to that. This one was a little more fun because we did more wood tops, and I enjoyed that.”
Joseph Brule also helped with the tables and explained their process in making them. “We started by getting the dimensions to the old fire tables, and then we cut the square iron and angle iron to the desired pieces we needed,” said Brule. “We welded that all together, and the rest from there was just finishing the wood top.”
The students did all the work, and it spanned over 40 separate class periods. The wood tops are made of Cherry, and the boys were able to utilize the skills they had learned in their welding and woodworking classes to help create the tables. Oliver said he is very pleased with the result and work of his students, and he hopes members of the community are as well. The hope is that when people visit the Crookston Sports Center, they have a great experience, and Oliver believes these tables will add to that. Oliver says these projects are exactly what his Community Projects class is about.
In the photo down below (L-R), Evan Christensen, Erik Coauette, Mason Owens, Joseph Brule.
