ROCKWOOD ― Riders and walkers along the Great Allegheny Passage can take a break and sit down for a while, thanks to benches made by Rockwood students.
"For the past 20-plus years until he recently passed away, Gene Kelly of Rockwood made wood benches for Somerset County’s 43 miles of the Great Allegheny Passage," said Rockwood Area School District Superintendent Mark Bower in an email.
"This year, the torch has been passed to Rockwood School District students in the Engineering and Technology Club’s after-school program. The students learn to use woodworking tools and manufacturing techniques to mass produce five to seven benches. Each bench is engraved to highlight a person or organization who sponsored the bench through the Somerset County Recreation and Trails Association," he said. "In addition to bench building, the students also work on team building, leadership and social skills. The team recently completed a bench in honor of Gene Kelly's years of dedicated service to the GAP trail."
The project is a combined effort for Misty Demchak, principal at Rockwood High School who also serves on the Somerset County Rails to Trails Association (SCRTA) board, and was able to bring the opportunity to Rockwood.
"We were asked if the bench project was something Rockwood students might be interested in, and immediately I thought of our Technology and Engineering Club adviser, Mr. Kush and his students," she said in an email. "Mr. Kush is an innovative teacher who is student and community-focused. So when an opportunity presents itself we explore it."
Joe Kush, the engineering and technology teacher at Rockwood, said the first bench took about three weeks of working after school a few days a week.
"Our goal was to invest time in making mass-production fixtures so that future benches would take significantly less time to manufacture and we could be more efficient," he said in an email. "We now can complete a bench in about a week. We take extra steps to make a quality product."
Kush said the students take their time and router all edges of the bench boards and sand them smooth tomake the benches as comfortable and splinter-free as possible.
"When the bench is assembled, we fill all of the voids with a silicone caulk to prevent the wood from prematurely rotting," he said.
Kush said the team has completed three benches so far and plans to continue to make more as the ordersare received at SCRTA.
"Our real profit from the project is not so much a monetary donation to our Engineering and Technology Club, but the opportunity for Rockwood students to learn skills, craftsmanship, and life lessons along the way,” Kush said.
His students agree.
Abram Minor in ninth grade said, “I have the opportunity to make something that lots of people will see, especially from other countries, when they are on the trail. I hope to work on this project again next school year because of how much fun it was. It was a good experience and taught me skills for everyday life.”
Also in ninth grade, David Murphy said, “When working on the bench project, I got to learn more woodworking skills and it’s really fun. I learned ownership and responsibility of a big project and to do the best I can at something. Patience and time management are good skills to know.”
Another ninth grader, Lilly May said, “I was excited to make benches because I made an impact in a popular exercising area. Throughout the bench project I've learned how to overcome setbacks, more social skills, and overall how much work goes into building a simple thing such as a bench. Knowing that I've made an impact and that people will use the benches I've helped make is great. This is because I know that if someone sits down during their walk, run, bike ride, etc., I had something to do with that and not many people can say that.”
Matt Truszka in ninth grade, said, “Most likely I’ll never meet the people but it’s super cool to know theywill sit on our work. This project gave me something to do after school and I could hang out with my friends.”
Demchak said the school district was pleased to be included in the project.
"We feel honored to make the benches along the GAP trail and to keep the bench-making in our local community," she said. "This also allows us to honor Gene Kelly’s legacy as a Rockwood resident who made the benches for over 20 years."
Demchak said SCRTA has a few other projects related to the Somerset County section of the trail and a passport system similar to the National Parks' stamp program are in the works. More details will be provided when they are ready to be released.
Madolin Edwards can be reached at medwards@dailyamerican.com.
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