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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (June 7, 2007)
Spilyay Tymoo, Warm. Springs, Oregon Page S June 7, 2007 Welding sparks interest of high school students P y Leslie M itts $p%aji Tymoo < The projects created in the £dvj:hced metals class at Ma- tirai H igh S ch o o l speak for {heihselves. ! That’s lucky for the students creafuig them, as the young men jjehind the projects aren’t prone jo brag about their work. [ In fact, it takes some con vincing for them to even begin speaking about their creations. 1 Atcitty Begay, a 17-year-old junior, is one o f several students from Warm Springs working on jaxg^f>xojects in die class. I Begay recently completed a project close to his heart Hecre- ated small fences to place on each side.ro f his late grandmother’s grave in the Simnasho Cemetery. , If* took him several months to btiild, Begay said, and he is about to complete his second year o f metals classes. K O ne fence features a small piece with a feather etched into it, while the other features his grandmother’s name: Fern. 1 ‘ilt was actually my uncle’s idea*” Begay said. As for what his family thought o f the project, ‘They thought it was a good idea.” | G u ff T h o rp e teaches the ¡blasts at MHS and will- be retir- jnglt.the end o f the school year. • Thorp e o ffered praise for jSegay’s project readily: “In my 30 geais. o f teaching it is the closest broj^cts I ’ve ever sent that was truly from die heart,” Thorpe said. < In his opinion, “It was a prod- ja c t^ f love and admiration for hismandmother.” | 1| also helped the other stu dents to see what could really go $ijto a project. gifeCThey could see how,driven Sit.’BegaywaS'when hewas build ing it,” Thorpe said. “He was very meticulous about building it That included re-building the “ i t feels really good to '& see some model stu dents. I t feels better and better every year. F o s t e r K a la m a Cultural Liaison entire project when Begay de cided he didn’t like the'way ft was turning, out. While at first the metal was twisting in oppo site directions, Begay decided to have them twist in the same di rection instead. “He had areally firm idea o f what he wanted to do when he started,” Thorpe said. O ther students are working on a project that’s more con nected to their stomachs:. Kip C u lp us, ’R o n ald Smith* arid Josiah Thom pson, all 17-year- old juniors, have been work ing to Create three charcoal barbeques with a fire box for smoking. While the project originally began as one student building barbeques for himself, Thorpe, and a janitor at MHS, the three students will now each be tak ing home their own barbeque— much to the disappointment o f Thorpe, o f course. T h ere’s still quite a bit o f work left, however. T he stu dents said they will probably be working to finish the project up until the last day o f class. As for the studehts, Thorpe said, “They’ve developed weld ing skills and they’ve developed fabricating skills.” “These guys have been Work ing together,” Thorpe added. “Its been a lot oTfuri to- h á v e j them around.”' ■ The three agreed that weld ing is the best part o f the project. “Welding is easy and quick,” Ronald Suppah, Kip Culpus and Josiah Thompson have been hard at w ork to com plete three charcoal barbeques that they Will be able to take hom e to enjoy. Atcitty Begay recently built two fences that will sit on the sides of his grandm other’s grave. G uff Thorpe, w ho teach es the m etals class, described the project as spiritual and “truly from the heart.” Suppah said— but the three just laughed at first when asked who did most o f -the work. . t Jasper Smith, a 17-year-old junior, has also, been hard at" work in the advanced metals class. He’s teamed with fellow students Samuel Figueroa, 17; Edgar Mendez, 17; and David Debiaso, $*«3$ J * f iTaetigronpii nearly finished With a project two trimesters in the m aking: 2 0 chairs, four benches, two small table and one large table that will be placed in the courtyards at Madras High School All they have left to do is fiii- ish coating them with blue paint, the students said. Irir Mendez’ opinion, “It was a gqod experience.” $m ith. agreed. “I t was a gorid learning experience, and fun,” he said. Foster Kalama, cultural liai son for MHS, spoke highly o f all the students currently en rolled in the course. T t feels really good to see some model students,” he said. ‘I t feels better and better every year.” It’s only a small part o f what M H S is striving to achieve, Kalama added. - “The school is working very hard at everything we do here,” he said. Kalama credits Thorpe with helping the students succeed. “H e’s one o f the few teach ers that comes- to see. me about a--student/’i Kalama explained; “That says a lot in itself” ’ v As for Thorpe’s impending retirement, Kalama said, ‘‘I t ’s really hard to see great teachers leave, especially when students come to care and respect the teacher.” As for the projects students have created recently, Kalama said, Thorpe’s involvement Was evident when speaking with him about Begay’s project “He almost brought us both to tears, talking about it,” Kalama said. “These boys have been working very, very hard.” . jp In Kaiama’s opinion, “I ’m pretty certain the parents and grandparents are going to be very proud o f these young men.” Jasper Smith (left) w orked with David Debiaso, Sam uel Figueroa and Edgar M en d ez to create chairs, benches and tables that will soon be perm anently located in the M ad ras High School courtyard. 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