August 4, 2021, by admin

Last week, SSSC celebrated an exciting achievement for the 2021 Revolution camp. Student engineers shared a newly constructed smokehouse with families and staff with a ribbon-cutting.  “Revolution” is the title we give each summer to an engineering camp.  This year, we divided the camp into 2 weeks: “Design a Smokehouse” and “Build a Smokehouse”.  Camp participants in week 1 became design engineers.  They researched traditional smokehouses in SE Alaska by interviewing Chuck Miller, STA cultural liaison, examining photos and sketches from books and on-line resources, and visiting the beautiful smokehouse behind the Sitka Native Education building.  Research and experimentation provided the basis for ideas which were sketched, shared, and modified into plans.  Plans became models.   

In the second week, camp participants became construction engineers.  They examined the models and modified the best of ideas based on constraints and understanding of critical elements.  And then, they constructed.  Construction boss, Evan O’Brien planned the logistics and prepped materials so that each day was productive. Camp engineers practiced skills so that each could accurately use drills, nail guns, staple guns, levels, and tape measures.  The resulting smokehouse is connected to traditional wisdom related to smoking fish and includes unique elements such as a lovely design of colorful salmon circling the smokehouse.  

Congratulations to our teen engineers and thank you to Chuck Miller for sharing his knowledge over several days; Lakrisha Johnson for opening the smokehouse behind her building to us so we could see a beautifully constructed example; Evan O’Brien for his cheerful dedication of time and expertise; Kristina Tirman for outstanding lunches that fueled our hard work; and Blake Conaway for use of the tools and space in the SSSC workshop.