Bicentennial Park on the corner of Pleasant and Moulter streets in the village of Manlius is now equipped with two park benches, thanks to the efforts of students involved in two technology and design classes at Fayetteville-Manlius High School with the support of the F-M Rotary Club.
About 35 students from the design and the furniture building classes at F-M got the chance to work on this project after the F-M Rotary reached out and asked them to carry out it out, said Jensen Bergman, technology and design teacher at F-M High School. The design students drafted and created the final park bench designs using 3D software, and the furniture building class used the designs to construct two benches, which were placed in the park on June 9. The F-M Rotary provided funds for the benches, which was about $500 in raw material, said F-M Rotary Treasurer Tom Hiester.
“I jumped on the opportunity because I really like to do projects like this with my kids,” Bergman said. “The design students don’t usually get to see their projects actually made, they usually just design them. This gave all of the students a good example of a real life collaborative project.”
Mayor Paul Whorrall said benches for Bicentennial Park was one of the service projects the village board suggested to the F-M Rotary because the board is planning to build a gazebo for the park and the donated benches are a good start in making the park a nice place for residents to visit.
“We want residents to use the park and we thought suggesting benches would be a good start for the development of it,” said Whorrall.
In the past, Bergman said his classes in technology and design has been involved in creating and building the village’s bicentennial float for the 2013 Fourth of July parade and those students were awarded the 2011 Service Recognition Award from the village.
“These hands-on volunteer experiences are important in the district’s goal to get students college and career ready,” said F-M High School Principal Raymond Kilmer.
