Eastern Montgomery High School is being lauded for the construction of two canoes this past school year.
The school’s cabinetry class designed and built two canoes, which recently won a statewide competition.
Rory Willis is the cabinetry instructor at the school and is happy for the students.
“To win this competition, it was fantastic for the students. I am thrilled for them,” he said.
The statewide competition is known as the Virginia Lumber Cup and is sponsored by The Turman Group and the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation. The annual woodworking challenge invites middle and high school Career and Technical education students, FFA and 4-H programs to transform locally sourced hardwood into original projects.
Eastern Montgomery High School won this year’s Senior Division after hundreds of people voted for their project online and a panel of judges with criteria including craftsmanship, creativity, material efficiency and functionality.
Turman Lumber was established in southwest Virginia in 1967 and has continued to be a major lumber supplier with corporate headquarters in Hillsville.
To start the project, Turman Lumber brought the class an estimated 2,000 7/8th inch sticks, which a lot of people would use as kindling.
Willis said the students found the canoe drawings on the Internet.
“We needed to build one with a flat-bottom, and decided to do two 13 ft. long canoes,” he said.
This is not his first attempt at building a canoe in his class or personally.
“I have built 12 or 13 canoes in the past,” he said.
From the drawings, the cabinetry class started in January and one class of 3-5 students worked all the way up to May. Willis estimated 150 hours of work were invested in the project.
“They took the small pieces of wood and built the canoes over a mold. The slates fit together, and the students glued them and sanded them down. From there, we placed fiberglass over them and added epoxy,” Willis said.
His cabinetry classes have also built both mandolins and guitars in the past, so this type of project was nothing new.
While the class did not place the canoes in the water to see if they float, Willis is confident they will. One of the canoes will be on display at the local Virginia Farm Bureau Insurance office, who was a co-sponsor of the competition. The second could be bought and end up on the wall of Rory’s son.
First prize for this competition is $1,250, which will be put toward the cabinetry program at the school.
