David Cullison, an educator at Fourth Avenue Junior High School in Yuma, wanted to give his students an opportunity to develop their carpentry skills by creating a woodworking project from scratch. And, he wanted to take the project a step further by encouraging students to contribute their gifts to the broader community.

When he learned that a local domestic violence shelter, Amberly’s Place, was looking for furniture for the families they served, an idea was sparked. Dave’s class decided they would build a five-piece dining room set to donate to the shelter. Before beginning the building process, Dave asked his students to write personal essays about what a dining room table meant to them and their own families. Tables, the students shared, were more than a surface, they represented a place for conversation, eating together, working on homework, and crafting projects. Tables were a space for connection. The students then developed a budget to determine the costs for the project, researched designs, and created design concepts for the dining room set.

Dave wanted his students to learn how to build something beautiful and functional entirely from scratch using raw lumber. With the mentorship of a local professional cabinet maker he found through CommunityShare, and a bundle of oak planks, Dave and the class worked together to build the table and chairs for the dining set.

Through this real-world learning experience, students developed critical workforce and collaboration skills, connected with a caring mentor, and made a big difference for a local nonprofit and family in their community. “For us, this is an opportunity to facilitate community service for these students and help themselves develop hands-on learning and skills that they will use not just today, but in their futures. And it’s an opportunity to give back to a family in need for their community…. We’re very excited to be able to tell the family that will receive this table and that some students did something bigger than themselves in building this table for your family,” shared Toni Bourguignon, Director of Amberly’s Place where students donated the dining set.

Check out this short video to see more about the project and hear from students involved.

120 Students Impacted

1 Month

• Technical/Occupational Experience: Carpentry, Design
• Life Skills: Budgeting
• Content Areas: Math, Writing, Finance, Design/Art
• Durable Workforce Skills: Problem-solving, collaboration, critical thinking, communication