Students at Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School (POBJFKHS) have been working on something dynamic. POBJFKHS is one of the very few high schools on Long Island that offers guitar as a music class – most schools just offer the standard orchestra, band and chorus electives. Music students that are enrolled in guitar as a music elective have recently completed a semester-long project of building their very own guitars.
Michael Rodgers, Director of Music & Performing Arts at John F. Kennedy High School, and a guitarist himself, was walking through a guitar shop one day and saw a guitar getting some modifications when he had the idea to offer ‘building your own guitar’ as one of the projects that students could complete over the course of the semester. “I thought this would be a great combination of technology meeting the student’s passion for music,” said Mr. Rodgers. “When I brought the idea up to the students, they were all for it and couldn’t wait to get started.”
The only materials students received was the wooden body of the instrument itself. From there they had to make cuts to the body, place the frets, sand everything down, measure the pressure, oil the neck, and solder the guitar. After crafting their guitars, the students performed with their hand-made guitars at a Board of Education meeting.
The Plainview-Old Bethpage Central School District is committed to a curriculum in support of critical learning in STEAM areas of study to encourage young students’ development of creative thinking skills and a passion for the sciences.
For more information about the Plainview-Old Bethpage Central School District, please visit the District’s website at www.pobschools.org. Happenings in the District can also be followed on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pobschools.
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