Student projects featured in the new Career and Technical Education building at SBHS

Career Technical Education students at San Benito High School this spring played a role in the construction of the program’s under-construction, bond-funded building by fabricating welding booths, work benches and storage racks for the new metal shop.

Metal technology teacher Mark Krause said the CTE building is located behind the 400 buildings and new tennis courts on the west side of the campus off Nash Road.

“All of the CTE teachers, whose programs will be in the new building, were involved with the design and construction since the very start,” he said.

The students in Krause’s Metal Fabrication and Advanced Metal Fabrication courses who took the lead and completed most of the work on these projects are Michael Camacho, Evan Weatherly, Michael Calderon and Josh Hoyte. Many other students volunteered and helped with the welding along the way, Krause noted.  

There are four CTE Pathways that will be housed in the new building: Metal Technology, Wood Technology, Automotive Technology, and Agriculture. The new building will contain a shop and classroom for each industrial pathway, along with two agricultural science classrooms and a floriculture lab.

The students fabricated 20 arc welding booths, 12 oxygen acetylene stations, eight metal storage racks, and two industrial workbenches. They used materials such as mild steel and aluminum for metal-working projects that included print reading, layout, sheetmetal work, drilling and boring, gas metal arc welding, and gas tungsten arc welding.

“The students did a really good job on these projects and they take a lot of pride in their work,” Krause said. “Future students will be utilizing the work they did for decades to come. It is great to teach in a community that understands the importance of industrial technology education for all students.”