All signs of senior project point toward learning

The biggest lesson Darryl Smith has taken away from his high school senior project is the benefit of teaching others - even his teacher.

Smith's project centers on creating signs for the U.S. Forest Service, but it required him to learn and employ woodworking technology that can have long-term benefits for the community.

Ten road signs are being milled by Smith with road names engraved in Tlingit and English. The signs, which are 18-inches high by about four-feet long, will be transported to Kake once completed to be used there.

According to Tory Houser, recreation staff officer with the Forest Service in Wrangell, there are many local names not found on maps used for Forest Service roads in Kake, which has led to people getting lost.

"We want signs on these roads that use those names," Houser said. "(People in Kake) wanted the Tlingit names."

Some of the names don't necessarily translate, since some words in English don't have counterparts in Tlingit, she said. For example, Old Dam Road becomes Duná Héen Deiyí in Tlingit, for Drinking Water Road. "The elders and students in Kake worked together to make the translations, and Alaska Youth Stewards are going to install the 10 signs this summer," Houser said.

Before he could embark on milling the signs in shop class, Smith had to learn how to use the computer numerical control (CNC) machine, which was brought into the workshop about eight years ago by former teacher Drew Larrabee.

"He basically had everything under control when it came to the CNC machine," Smith said. "He (Larrabee) knew how to use it properly. When it came time to teach (current shop teacher Winston) Davies how to use it, he never had the time or opportunity."

Smith began learning how to use the machine at the beginning of the school year, creating computer files in a design program, then exporting them for the milling process. The CNC machine reads the files and then cuts the design into the wood within three to five minutes.

"I've used the small CNC router we have in the tech room, but this five-foot by 10-foot machine is a whole other level," Davies said. "There are so many different bits, feeds and speeds to learn."

The process of learning the ins and outs of the machine has Smith wanting to teach what he's learned to others to possibly create a ripple effect of learning that could have long-term benefits.

"The big thing I'm taking away from it is I'm trying to stay openminded to learning new things," Smith said. "The machine itself looks horrifying to deal with ... and that might put off a lot of people who are worried about ruining it, but it's about the learning experience."

Smith's hope is that he'll teach Davies how to fully use the machine, so that the instructor can teach future students. "If they can use that in a career, then that'd be worth it."

Houser said Forest Service staff might paint the signs bright yellow for visibility. She'd like to use them as an example for similar signs in Wrangell.

"We are hoping we can showcase these signs and that our local community will be interested in doing something similar," she said.

The signs are being cut out of scrap cedar provided by the Forest Service.

Though Smith enjoys learning about the technological side of his craft, the woodworking side is much more interesting to him because "you can make so many different interesting things on that machine that the human hand isn't capable of getting to that exact detail."

After high school, Smith will attend the University of Alaska for a two-year radiology technician program. From there, he will pursue certification to become either an MRI or CT technician.

"The good thing about rad (radiology) tech is that it's everywhere across the United States," Smith said. "I'd come back here to do internship to get prepared for where I wanted to go off to."