After being absent from the curriculum for six years, Sequoyah High School has revitalized its machine shop, offering interested students a fast track to a career after school.
First-year teacher Kirk Johnson was hired away from his former position at Precision Machine Services in Chattanooga to teach over 40 students the art of, in his own words, “creating something out of nothing.”
Principal Todd Jackson said the school has put in requests for roughly $100,000 worth of equipment, such as lathes, mills and saws, so that Johnson can instruct his kids in the finer points of machining. Johnson estimates the tools will be at the school by November, and the shop will be completely finalized by the first of the year.
While the shop is still a work-in-progress, Johnson has spent the last month teaching interested students how to sharpen drill bits and the intricacies of lathe tooling, among other skills. And they are interested.
“I’ve always been a hands-on learner,” said Sequoyah senior Tanner Penney. “Putting my hands on something and getting something done has taught me a whole lot.”
Penney is planning on going into the Army out of high school, and said the skills he’s acquiring in Johnson’s class are putting him a step closer to what he wants to do as an Army mechanic.
Laiken and Alexis Williams are juniors at Sequoyah. While they had taken auto mechanics previously, all it took was a month of instruction for shop to become their favorite class. In fact, the reopening of the machine shop was a major reason for the girls’ transfer to Sequoyah.
“We just like fixing things that are broken,” said Laiken.
The school is using the unfinished shop room as an opportunity to further the curriculum for other students, too. The school’s carpentry class, run by Chris Grizzle, was tasked with a semester project to fix up the floor, railing and stairs for an elevated section of the shop.
As for Johnson, the change in career has been very satisfying, he said. He recognizes that not every high school student is interested in going to college; after all, he wasn’t. However, through his class, students can get a solid understanding of a career that he says is in dire need in the area.
“By the time they leave here, my goal is to have them to where they can go right into the industry, walk in any shop and get a job,” said Johnson.
While the school doesn’t offer any certifications yet, Johnson said it is definitely something he’s interested in pursuing.
“There’s just so many opportunities in the Chattanooga-Dalton area for people with these skills,” he said. “I’m trying to give them the mindset that, ‘Whatever comes my way, I can handle it.'”
Email Shane Foley at sfoley@timesfreepress.com.