This year at OHS the Metals 2 class has a chance to build something entirely unique: a life size metal tiger.

Two years ago, there was a grant given to the school’s art and metals departments to build this tiger. The project was designed and worked on for a time, but never finished.

“I kind of inherited a mess,” Mr. Jim Kreyling, the metals teacher, joked.

With a class comprised of eight students, Kreyling picked up the pieces of the old project and started over. His students did research and found out how large the bone lengths needed to be for an actual tiger size. This way, their metal skeleton would be proportionally correct.

“This tiger project allows them to learn techniques without specific projects,” Kreyling explained. “The Metals Two class allows them to go beyond the basic things.”

While all of the students in the class are participating and helping to create this tiger, Kreyling says that there are a few student who are really getting into the project and have taken it on as ‘their thing’.

Kreyling is hoping to have the tiger finished by the end of this semester, or next spring at the latest. He really wants this semester’s students to be able to see their project finished, and he is prepared to let students stay after school to work on it if they want as well.

 With the metal tiger awaiting completion, Kreyling is already thinking about future projects. The combination of metal and imagination has allowed students to have a fun, creative outlet, while learning new techniques and skills in the classroom.