HCHS Carpentry team third at state competition

    HARLAN -- The Harlan Community High School STEM program competed in the Associated Builders and Contractors of Iowa Carpentry Competition on November 30 at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines and finished third in the state competition.  
    Twenty schools from across the state of Iowa participated in the event.
    For the competition, teams are given four and a half hours to construct a model from a provided blueprint.  Each team is composed of at least three and no more than five students.  Teams are sent the blueprint two weeks prior to the day of the competition and are required to study and interpret the information provided to them.  
    On the day of the event, students arrived to the Varied Industries Building on the Iowa State Fairgrounds bringing their own tools and equipment.  Students were assigned a station which contained a pallet of lumber and other building materials required to complete the project.  Judges circulated the stations throughout the competition evaluating teams on everything from proper construction techniques and dimensional accuracy to teamwork and safety.
    For this year’s competition, teams constructed a 6’w x 5’h x 3’d firewood shed that included siding and shingling.