PRESCOTT — Teachers around the nation deal with the balance of getting hands-on, real life experiences while staying within classroom budgets. Prescott teacher Kyle Schmidt and his manufacturing enterprise class have combatted this by milling their own lumber to save money on the wood used for classroom projects.

Schmidt is a former logger and thought of an outdoor logging class during the pandemic. From there, the idea developed into what it is now a cost saver and student opportunity for the high schoolers.

With the district recently passing a referendum in November and failing one before that in April, Schmidt wanted to ensure no matter what happened in the district, his program was one that could stick around. To get to where they are now was not an instantaneous project, as they worked toward no longer having the need to order wood.

“We initially said that we would order some wood but then we would try to get to a point where we never had to order wood again unless a kid really wants a specific species,” Schmidt said. “This year we actually didn’t have to order any wood because the project went so well.”

The cutting of expenses was not the only positive impact though, as the students also gained valuable experience.

“It helps me figure out what I want to do in life, if I like doing this or not,” student Luke Peterson said.

“It helps me want to work harder because I know I’m not just doing it for myself but other people,” student Culley Anderson said.

The class has an assortment of trees outside the back of the high school. When class starts, they head out and, through an entire class effort, load up the tree trunk onto a machine where they measure and cut to get the planks they can then use for their projects.

Schmidt said they want to serve as a role model for other schools in the area and are hosting a visiting school to show how they operate.

“There’s schools that do it, but I haven’t heard of another school in the state that takes it as far as we do,” Schmidt said.

Schmidt goes by the teaching philosophy of stepping back and letting the students work together through challenges. He equips them with the knowledge necessary to complete a task and lets their cooperation do the rest.

A benefit of the system is the students are not always working solely for themselves. Even when they take some projects home with them, they still pick up the experience of milling to make their project in the first place.

“One of our main goals is to teach kids to just simply pay it forward,” Schmidt said. “We’re so stuck in the ways of just going so fast that we forget about our community.”

Schmidt extended a big thank you to the people who help the system stay alive, especially Harley Hotchkiss, the owner of Premium Plots, for helping to supply the material.