Industrial technology gets a makeover at Healy

For the past year, teachers, administrators, and school board members at Pierz Schools have been meeting and now have a plan to update the industrial technology classrooms at the high school. These areas, consisting of the wood shop, welding shop, and agricultural classrooms, will be seeing some exciting changes in the very near future. 

The plan in place is a phased plan as much of the work will need to be done in the short summer months, as the rest of the year brings high demand for those teaching spaces. Phasing this rollout is also necessary now due to the challenges the construction industry as a whole faces right now—availability of product as well as the availability of engineers, contractors, and the  backlog of licenses and permits at the state level make any new construction project an extra challenge for districts. 

With these challenges, the exact timeline of each phase is still to be determined. However, when all phases are complete, the results will be as follows: 

The current special education space (aka the old choir room) will be combined with the current health classroom (aka the old drafting room for those of a certain age) to transform it into a large multi-use Ag Classroom. One side will be designed for Bio-Ag: the classroom will have counters, running water, a very large stainless steel sink, and large south-facing windows for growing seeds and starter plants for the greenhouse. The other larger side will support other Ag-Related instruction: animal care classes, wildlife, etc. 

A new classroom and office space will be added to house special education services. 

The wood shop will also see a complete remodel. All current storage rooms will be opened up, creating a large teaching and work space with additional new equipment.  A new anti-dust vacuum system will be installed. In addition, a large storage room will be added to the east side of the wood shop.

The welding/metal shop is also ready for an update after tirelessly serving our students over the years. The remodel will include new hoods for venting of all equipment. A storage room will also be added to the east side of the metal shop to open up more classroom space.

The current agriculture classroom will be remodeled and made larger with removal of all four smaller rooms to make a large technology space. This new Tech room will house high-tech, industry-standard tools like 3-D printers, laser engravers, laser printers, plasma cutters and other equipment with updated HVAC. This room will have large windows on both sides with door access to the metal shop on one side and the wood shop on the other side, making it easily available and accessible to all three industrial technology teachers throughout the day. 

​Lastly, new bathrooms and water fountains will be added to this area as well. 
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It’s an exciting project and one that’s been in the making for a long time. When all phases of the project are completed, the industrial technology area will provide industry-standard resources that will equip our students with career-ready skills to bring with them after graduation.

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