22
SHOP NOTES
Masonry Shop
Seniors worked on their fireplace projects with various designs for the front.
Mike Vega built his regular fireplace
and then started working on a Rumford
fireplace, a fireplace with an old design
that is extremely heat efficient.
Juniors worked on their composite
walls using concrete block and brick
with wire reinforcements, flashing, and
weep holes. Four juniors worked on a
mini house in the shop with doors and
windows with 8-inch block and a brick
veneer to make 10-foot high walls.
Freshmen worked on their block projects using straight block leads, corners,
and walls with 6-inch, 8-inch, 10-inch,
and 12-inch blocks.
A local SkillsUSA competition was
held in the shop which, for seniors and
juniors, was required as 25 percent of
their shop grade. Two freshmen volunteered to participate and did well. First
place went to Cody Palmer 1W6, second place went to Jesse Bradley 1W6,
and Ian Whitman 1W7 came in third.
As a community service project,
students helped build a patio for an
autism school in Edgemont, Pa., working alongside masons from Phoenix
Contractors, a company owned by
Tom Collins 8W1. Galantino donated
the pavers for the project. The students
removed asphalt, put down a layer of
crushed stone, put in a sand base, and
put in pavers.
In the early fally, students provided
labor and observed the Bricklayers 500
at Fizzano Brothers Concrete Products,
Inc., in Crum Lynne, a regional competition for bricklayers to see who can lay
the most brick in one hour with accuracy. Among the competitors were several
Williamson alumni: Joe Masters 0W7
and Matt Marone 1W4 of Brick Layers
Local #1, and Mike Borchert 0W1 of
Dooley and Kretschman. In a concrete
block laying competition between Williamson and masons from Stevens Tech,
Stevens won.
Paint Shop
Fall semester saw students doing a lot
of work at the athletic field, including
the on-going painting of lines for football and soccer games and one lacrosse
blue vs. gold game.
They also power washed the athletic
field retaining wall which had become
grimy and painted the posts for the new
scoreboard donated by the Alumni Association.
They did some interior painting at
a dorm and power washed the exterior
awnings of the Sharpless House.
They became close to finishing B