Falls Career students clear path for Life Skills class
DANIEL CLIFTON • PICAYUNE EDITOR
MARBLE FALLS — Just across the hall from the Marble Falls High School Life Skills class is a doorway that leads out to a little garden-like area. But until recently, before a group of students from Falls Career High School arrived, the door basically led nowhere for several of the Life Skills students.
“It’s awesome,” said Life Skills teacher Devin Wuest as she watched three Falls Career students along with two adults build a new ramp from the door to the courtyard area. “We’ll be able to do a lot with the area.”
Harry Born, an adult volunteer helping with the project, pointed out the previous ramp was built in such a manner that many of the wheelchairs the Life Skills and special-needs students used couldn’t navigate the structure. The new one comes straight down from the door to the ground.
But just because the design looks simple doesn’t mean building it was.
“It’s the Hill Country,” Falls Career teacher Mike Saenz said. “You dig down two inches and you hit rocks.”
The Falls Career students, however, weren’t dissuaded. They just kept pounding away at the rocks. In the case of a massive rock, where they wanted to put a post for the ramp, Born and the students simply adjusted the structure a bit and worked around the obstruction.
Wuest said, with the ramp, it will allow her students to begin taking care of the outdoor courtyard area. One of the other Marble Falls High School classes is building raised garden beds for the area.
“They came over and measured our wheelchairs, so (the raised beds) will be at a height our students in wheelchairs can work in them,” she said. “And it also means the other kids won’t have to bend over quite as far.”
The courtyard includes several trees and other plants. There’s even a rose bush planted about smack-dab in the middle. The efforts of the Falls Career students have basically opened a new classroom setting for the Life Skills students.
Falls Career principal Peggy Little said the project is just part of her students giving back to the community. The non-traditional high school campus allows students who don’t like the traditional setting or prefer a program that allows them to work at their own pace to pursue a degree. It’s also a way for students who might have dropped out to return to school and earn a high school degree while still working many hours a week.
“When we started Falls, we realized it was a big undertaking for the district,” she said. “And we wanted the students to have a way to show their gratitude. Each student has to do or be involved in one community project each year they are enrolled here.”
As he looked at the almost completed ramp May 1, Born liked what he saw — both in the structure and the opportunity it brought.
“It will be good that the (Life Skills) students can come out here,” Born said. “There’s a lot they can do out here. I’m glad we could help them with this ramp.”
Then, it was back to work alongside the Falls Career students.
daniel@thepicayune.com