Though some may drag their feet and groan at the thought of waking up and coming to school at 7 A.M. for woodshop, sophomore Alfredo Garzon, a transfer from Central High School, attends the class during zero and first period.

“When I came here I wasn’t planning on doing woodshop, but [Principal Gary] ‘Papa’ [Schultz] encouraged me to join,” Garzon said. “I decided just to do it because I knew it would be fun.”

After finding the design in a magazine, Garzon began constructing an old-fashioned toy truck out of walnut and maple wood.

“I started by building a toy bank truck because I saw it on a magazine and it seemed interesting,” Garzon said. “It was my first detailed project and it took me around six weeks to complete. I soon realized that there were many details that took a lot of time and work.”

Despite arriving late in the second semester, Garzon managed to finish the project in less than two months.

“I thought he did a good job,” Randy Hurley, woodshop teacher, said. “It turned out cute and I could tell he tried really hard on it.”

Hurley accredits Garzon’s success to his diligence and ability to follow instructions.

“He followed the instructions and was really intent on what he was doing, and it showed,” Hurley said. “He wouldn’t really talk when he arrived in the morning; he would just go right to work.”

While woodworking, Garzon learned how to operate many different tools necessary to complete the car.

“I learned so many new things about how to use wood shop machinery that was required to build the truck,” Garzon said. “It was also very fun and entertaining to make because it was different yet easy to work with. But even when something was hard, Mr. (Randy) Hurley always took time to help me.”

With his first project done, Garzon moved on to work on a magazine rack.

“If I come back to this school next year I definitely plan on doing woodshop again,” Garzon said. “It is a good experience and I enjoy it a lot.”