Dare County Schools

First Flight High School Senior Kirsten Davenport is pictured presenting a unique furniture design to fellow students. Kirsten is participating in a project funded by the Dare Education Foundation called First Flight Furniture where art, drafting and construction students are working together to design, build and sell furniture.

The Dare Education Foundation recently awarded a 21st Century Skills Grant in the amount of $2000.00 to FFHS teachers Jennifer Hamrock and Skip Saunders. The grant is helping a new and exciting hands-on student project get started. The project is called First Flight Furniture. Through First Flight Furniture, art students and construction students are working together, with art students developing functional furniture designs and construction students responsible for building a finished piece of furniture. To complete the furniture production team, Pete Rudolph's drafting classes are responsible for drawing scaled blueprints for the construction students to follow.

“The project will undoubtedly breed confidence and potentially seed student passion to pursue careers in 3-d design, architecture, or carpentry,” said FFHS Art Teacher Jennifer Hamrock.

Art and construction students began the year reviewing and strengthening basic knowledge and skills. Both classes then simultaneously built on their knowledge as they explored the basic history of North Carolina furniture and 3-d design. During the collaborative design and building phase, students will develop 21st Century Skills. Brian storming, creativity and problem solving will be necessary to take the project from concept to finished product. Thoughtful discussion, clear communication and compromise will have to happen among the participating students.

“Another main goal is for this project to grow, having more students involved, and more experienced students in upper level classes creating and building more complex products.
Once the pieces are built and final artistic touches are made by the art students, the unique furniture will be auctioned or sold to the community, with the proceeds going back into the
project to keep it going,” added FFHS Construction teacher Skip Saunders.

For more information about the Dare Education Foundation and the 21st Century Skills Grant Program, visit dareeducationfoundation.org or call 255-5545.

The Dare Education Foundation (DEF) is an IRS-qualified non-profit organization that works in partnership with Dare County Schools to promote excellence in education. DEF believes that the best education possible for every student provides a solid foundation for a strong and vibrant quality of life in Dare County. In order to achieve this, DEF partners with the community and raises funds from private donations large and small, grants, sponsorships, and special events.DEF's collaborative efforts enrich education for all students and
encourage community involvement in education.