Last year, woods teacher Steven Cortez transferred to a different school and the woods classroom has remained empty. The school has not hired a new woods teacher, so students who requested to take the class had to find something else to fill their schedules.

In woods, students have to create and design different projects with the tools and parts they are given. Students learn how to use equipment safely and about different types of wood. The classroom has a variety of tools and machines that students use to help them create their projects. 

Senior Bryson Schnitta said he was planning on taking woods this year and he was disappointed when he learned that woods would not be offered.

“I was disappointed because the woodshop is very nice and it is a shame to be putting it to rest,” Schnitta said. “My favorite part [about woods] was the freedom and ability to work with tools that you could not use outside of the class.”

There are no woods classes available this year, but students still go in there to work on certain projects because they have access to equipment and parts that they cannot use in their homes. 

Schnitta said the woodshop at the school is better than other woodshops in the Blue Valley School District and that the school should be using it more often.

“What we have is something that other schools do not have and it would be a mistake not to capitalize on it,” Schnitta said.