On a windy, cloudy day at America’s best public high school in New Ulm, MN the construction workers in Mr. Kevin Briggs residential construction class are working very hard building many things to make for our school before the cold weather hits. This school year Mr. Kevin Briggs has been very busy with all of his classes trying to get as much work done as they can while the weather is cooperative to do so.

On October 13th, Mr. Briggs and his residential construction class participated in the pouring of concrete for a 16X20 garage floor. This was extra special because it was all a donation from Cemstone (the concrete company in Southern Mn) which is very generous and they had a worker come and show all of the students the basics to pouring and finishing concrete work. This gave many kids the chance to experience some hands-on work from the professionals to improve their construction skills.

Mr. Briggs has also been very busy with his wood shop classes throughout this semester and is very focused on teaching his students how to work hard and do things the right way so that they walk out of New Ulm High School with some great hands-on skills in the carpentry and woodworking fields. I interviewed Mr. Briggs on October 13th and he had some great insights on what is going on in his residential construction class.

My first question had to do with what they will be storing in the new 16×20 garage. Mr. Briggs replied, “We will be storing anything from students materials and projects or anything that is in the shop that is in the way because 60 students come through my shop each day for class and it can get a little crowded.” I then asked Mr. Briggs how he felt about this garage being built, and he said: “I am excited because this is a big project for my kids to do and they can say someday that they built that garage.” My third question was whether he felt that pouring this concrete is a good experience for this class. He replied, “Yes it is a good experience and you can definitely tell which kids have experience with concrete work and which don’t, and it’s good for them to see it happen”. My fourth and last question had to do with his thoughts on being full-time woods teacher this year, to which he said: “It’s got its tradeoffs – I like that it’s project-based and kids can kind of come in and make what they want, but I don’t get to design one lesson plan, but 60 and it’s a lot of work up front.

Mr. Briggs and all of his classes are being very productive because he is a strong believer in working hard and doing things the right way. Mr. Briggs does carpentry work on the side during the summers, so he is the perfect teacher for these kids and getting them off on the right foot when it comes to the woodworking and construction trades!