After guiding thousands of Adam Robertson Elementary School students through the process of making wooden birdhouses and cars, Gary Smith is leaving the woodshop behind.
The 71-year-old counsellor and social worker is retiring in June, 19 years after starting the unique counselling method at ARES.
"I find it easier to slide stuff to kids when they're engaged in an activity," he said. "All they know is that they're playing."
Smith meets in the woodshop with about 25 students — alone or in groups of two or three — throughout week to talk about specific issues. Although the setting is useful for boys and girls, it has been particularly useful for boys, many of whom, Smith said, don't relate well to using a pencil and paper.
"This has been a carrot, especially for the boys," he said. "They need to be handling materials."
The experience sticks with students — Smith has had many former students tell him they're now taking shop classes at Prince Charles Secondary School.
"It definitely carries on because they realize they really enjoy doing stuff with their hands," he said.
The woodshop is also used in more than just an official counselling capacity — Thursday lunch hours are open to any interested students, and the room can quickly become packed with about two dozen boys and girls of all ages.
While younger students work on simpler items, such as birdhouses and cars, the older students tend toward more elaborate projects, including tables, stools and shelves. One class is currently working on 28 birdhouses for a contest that will be part of next week's Creston Valley Bird Fest.
The woodshop wouldn't be possible without some help from the community, and Smith has appreciated regular donations of wood from the Wynnwood and J.H. Huscroft sawmills.
Smith has purchased some of the tools himself — he sold Adirondack chairs to raise money for a band saw — and he recycles the school's juice boxes, cans and bottles, which earns about $20 a week for the shop.
He has appreciated the opportunity over the years to pass on his passion for woodworking to students, some of whom are the same age he was when he got his first taste.
"I started at six years old building houses with my dad," he said.
As an adult, he did social work and ran his own landscaping business before coming to ARES, starting what he is sure is the only elementary school woodshop in B.C.
"I think every school should have one," he said. "I will miss this greatly, but it's time to try a few other things."