There are five teachers whose classrooms might look a little nicer this year.
Senior Tyler McGilvery made five lecterns for the math department for his Eagle Scout Project.
An Eagle Scout is the highest rank in Boy Scouts. “I’m so happy, only two percent of boy scouts actually get it,” McGilvery bragged.
Math teacher Erich Yost suggested the idea, and was one of the five teachers who received a podium. Yost had a few other young men do Eagle Scout projects for him, so Tyler asked him if he had any ideas. Yost said that “Members of the math department have talked about how nice it would be to have a good podium, so I presented the idea to Tyler.”
McGilvery also built them for Math Kurt Mergen, Scott Allen, Richard Douglas and English teacher Sharon Krasny.
Douglas really appreciates the new addition to his classroom. “I love my new podium and it has helped a great deal. I often stand in front of my class when teach and it has been great having a podium to be able to put my notes and textbook on for when I need to go over examples,” he said. When asked what made this new podium so much better, Douglas answered “Tyler also put in an awesome storage space that I am able to keep all kinds of stuff in. I used to have a music podium that I borrowed from Mr. Yonkey, but kind of like him, although it was very tall it wasn’t very strong and kept collapsing when I put anything heavy on it!”
The podiums are not only efficient, but also visually appealing, according to Yost. He said “Besides looking absolutely spectacular, they have made a great focal point for when I’m teaching. The students can look at the beauty of Tyler’s work instead of having to listen to the stuff I’m teaching.”
Krasny also commented on the visual appeal along with the efficiency. She said that the podium is the perfect height to lean on, to read from and to easily move around. “The shelf under the podium is fantastic, because I keep my textbooks. It is wide enough that I can actually put three piles of papers on it for my three different classes. So I know what I am doing, I can see what I am doing, and I know where I put my textbooks – I am ready to teach! Plus it is really pretty, which is really the most important feature!”
McGilvery built the podiums himself, with 120 pieces of red oak donated from Heritage Hardwoods and Northland Forest Products. “We had to mill the lumber and cut it to size, with the help of Old Town Woodworking.”
They had to work days at his house, constructing and staining the lecterns. McGilvery started in March and transported the finished lecterns on August 20th. The Eagle Scout looks fantastic on college applications and is a great honor. The teachers who five lecterns were a great asset to the math department and have set Tyler on his way to the highest rank a Boy Scout can earn.