A group of Kelso High Campus students have unlocked some hidden treasurers as part of their Higher School Certificate (HSC) studies.
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Sections from old bridges in the region and even some timber from the old Kelso High School, which burnt down in 2005, have been transformed into new, usable pieces of furniture.
Eight Year 12 students from the Industrial Technology Timber and Furniture Industries class decided to use recycled timber instead of using conventional commercial timber for their HSC major projects.
Teacher Dave Kelly said that while using reclaimed wood was much more time- consuming, the final results were amazing. “The reason for using recycled timber is it is beautiful,” he said.
“It involves more work than buying commercial timber but the final product speaks for itself. By using recycled timber the students have challenged themselves as you have to do a lot more planning but the finished pieces are a lot more interesting.”
Aaron Betts spent almost a year making a dining-room table which included pieces of hand rail from the old Eglinton bridge.
“The main piece of timber was ring-barked early last century but one of my teachers suggested ways to make the raw material stand out more,” he said.
“We got a hold of the old hand rails from the Eglinton bridge which were painted white and when we sanded them back it revealed this wonderful deep red colour.”
In total the students at Kelso built two bars, two dining room tables, a sun bed, a kitchen tidy, an entertainment unit and even a skateboard ramp.
While the students had time relax and admire their work yesterday morning by the afternoon they were probably a little on edge with HSC markers scheduled to grade their work.
“I believe it is one of the first subjects to be marked for the HSC and in the end the students won’t know exactly what they get,” Mr Kelly said. “They get a final mark for the subject but that’s it.”
Although, no matter what the final marks are, many of the students said that they would hold on to their work for years to come.
“I’m planning to keep my bar until I move out of home,” Lisa Howarth said.
“Then it will come with me to my new place.”