Grants Pass students put their thumbprint on the community

GRANTS PASS, Ore. – While on-campus learning is limited this year, Grants Pass High School metal students put their skills to work this quarter.

Jake Leair is the metal teacher at Grants Pass High School. He and his students just completed 100 feet of a new fence for south middle school.

“A lot of the fencing you see like this was produced out of the high school,” said Leair.

Small groups of about 10 students came on-campus, one at a time, to help finish the project.

“The students really stepped up. And you can tell their appreciation to be here,” said Leair.

But it didn’t come without difficulty. Many students had to relearn their welding skills, after spending so much time away from in-person learning.

“It’s not like riding a bike. It takes a little bit more time than that to kind of get back into.”

At the end of the day, all the hard work paid off.

“Since day one here I’ve tried every year to have something that will leave a thumbprint on the students that are graduating,” said Leair.

Aside from this project, the teacher says they’re working on creating at-home kits to continue the students’ metal making education.