High school wood shop class builds tradition of toy making

High school wood shop class
builds tradition of toy making
By Joyce Blay
Staff Writer

Lakewood High School students brightened the holiday season for youngsters by building toys in shop class.

LAKEWOOD — If Santa Claus ever decides to retire, William Bradshaw may be just the man to replace him.

For the past 28 years, Bradshaw, the Lakewood High School wood shop teacher, and his class of advanced wood shop students have been making toys that are distributed to needy families of Lake-wood and to the Children Program, which is for students attending the high school who have young children.

"I started doing this program for as long as I’ve been the woodworking instructor here," Bradshaw said. "Every year the woodworking classes create these holiday gifts and we turn them over to Mr. (Joseph) Paradise, an assistant principal [at the high school], who runs BADD (Becoming Aware of the Danger of Drugs program) and he distributes them."

The toy the high school students made for children this year was an airplane on which children ages 2-6 can sit and pretend they are the pilot or perhaps an astronaut in the making.

Bradshaw creates the design and patterns, and the advanced class of students, with two or more years of shop experience, do the cutting, sanding and assembly of the seats. Then the seats are coated with a nontoxic finish, which this year was mineral oil.

Bradshaw’s "elves" are his students, who are dedicated to making the toys he designs come to life.

"It feels good to be making projects and giving them away," said Michael Giacini, 17, a fourth-year wood shop student.

The holiday project is also a good barometer for students who might be considering a career that would employ the skills they hone in making the toys.

"I want to build houses," said Fernando Rodriguez, 18, when asked what he would like to do in the future with his skills.

In another area of the shop, Matthew Lucas, 18, held the seat of an airplane toy in place while Steven Tirpak, 18, used an electric drill to insert a final screw in place.

"You start from the bottom and work your way up," Matthew said, describing the way he constructed the toys.

Matthew said he enjoyed the project. As he stood back to contemplate the airplane seat that he and Steven were almost finished making, he thought about the question he had been asked.

"This might be a career for me," he said. "I enjoy doing it."