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.
T hey have w orked for two trim esters to com plete 2 0 ’chairs,
four benches, two small tables and one large table.
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