Lowell — Junior Brooklyn Braun tinkered with a three-way electrical outlet, connecting two light switches to one lightbulb. Junior Seth Harvey removed an air filter, a spark plug and oil plug on a car motor. Seniors Lillian Andrews and Ariana Weber worked to install a light onto an exterior door.
In Lowell High School’s Home Essentials class, students are learning skills they may not need for the SAT, but that prove valuable throughout life. When it comes to home improvements, you could say they are learning everything and the kitchen sink.
“I’ve learned a lot of new things. Even just using the tools, I really didn’t have any experience,” said Brooklyn. “I learned how to blow up a tire and over the weekend my tire got flat and I blew it up.”
‘I come across parents who say, ‘I can’t believe it. They fixed our toilet!’
– teacher Tony Ellis
Students were finishing the 12-week trimester class by showing off their handy-person skills at 12 different stations. Their tasks included taking apart a kitchen sink and putting it back together; removing the seat and insides from a toilet and putting it back together; and removing a door knob and replacing it on the door.
From replacing screens to setting up mousetraps to identifying a carburetor, the ninth- through 12th-graders are learning the “how-tos” of many practical tasks people often pay plumbers, electricians and mechanics to do for them.
“I show them the purpose of a P-trap of a sink,” said teacher Tony Ellis, citing one example, the bend in a drainpipe that prevents sewer gas from leaking into the home. “You can call a plumber and before he even walks in the door it’s $125. You can take this $5 P-trap off yourself, clean it out and put it in. … If you don’t want to clean it out, go to the hardware store and buy one for $5.”
Don’t Be a Knucklehead
Ellis has been teaching Home Essentials for 15 years. The class was initially started to draw in more students during a time when shop classes were experiencing a decline in popularity, he said. It worked, inspiring more students to sign up, especially girls, who now make up about 50% of class rosters.
The class is a combination of home repairs and maintenance, practical life skills like changing a tire, and basic woodworking. Ellis emphasizes the usefulness of the class — it’s putting the STEM taught in other courses to work in applicable ways. He gives them a lot of time to problem-solve, try and try again, and rethink.
Junior Julia Geelhoed has already applied her new skills at home.
“I’ve been redoing my bathroom and I’ve used a lot of things we learned in this class,” she said. “I painted the walls, stained the vanity and I changed all of the hardware.”
Ellis also teaches students what tools and parts are called and what they are used for. He wants students to be able to know what they are looking for at a hardware store.
“You have to learn the language so you don’t look like a knucklehead,” he said. “Once you finish this class you are heads and tails above any student that hasn’t taken it.”
Ellis said he gets feedback from students and parents about the benefits of the class: “I come across parents who say, ‘I can’t believe it. They fixed our toilet!’ … That’s the most rewarding part, to see them shine with pride.”
Seth Harvey said he feels more prepared if things ever need fixing around his house.
“I think this class will help with home maintenance for sure,” the junior said. “Before, I didn’t really know how to do anything electrical or with the toilet. It’s really nice stuff to know. If our toilet ever stops working I will take a look at it and see what’s wrong.”
Read more from Lowell:
• Medieval matches bring ancient Roman history to life
• Future dispatcher: ‘Knowing you are helping people is amazing’
