The Mifflin County High School senior was one of a group of students who presented the Mifflin County School District Board of Directors with gifts in honor of School Directors Recognition Month on Jan. 16.

“It kind of initializes the notes and then just turns it to play the whole song,” Banks said as the music box played the high school’s alma mater. “It’s pretty quiet.”

The sound of music grew louder as each of the directors turned their cranks. It was a jaw-dropping experience for director Diane Stewart.

“That is awesome,” Stewart quipped.

Photo courtesy of MIFFLIN COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT
Mifflin County High School student Hudson Sellers works on a gift for the student-crafted gift bag.

Later she added, “The collaboration between the teachers and the students was what was most impressive. Our students are moving into a world where collaboration is so important and our technology ed classes offer that opportunity to them. They are using their 21st-century skills, which will help them in their future.”

As Banks fed the sheet music through the front of the music box, he explained how he had to punch every individual note on the piece.

“It’s our high school’s alma mater, so it’s pretty special,” Banks explained “I had to transpose the music and put it on this sheet, so it would play in the music box.

As far as making the music boxes, Banks designed them alongside high school wood technology education teacher Kevin Reigle. Each piece of the wooden box was cut and assembled.

Banks then created small sheet music of the school’s alma mater to feed into the box which then plays the tune so close to Husky hearts. The alma mater lyrics were engraved inside the box.

Photo courtesy of MIFFLIN COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT
In honor of School Directors Recognition Month, directors for the Mifflin County School District received a student-crafted gift bag with an assortment of items in it.

Mifflin County High School senior Andi Miller passed out the gifts to the directors. “We wanted to make these for you to show our appreciation,” Miller said.

Other laser-engraved gifts including a notebook were inside the gift bags. Students and teachers in the technology department learned and collaborated to make one-of-a-kind gifts.

Reigle said the idea for the custom gifts came about last year.

“I had several students who are into music and involved with band here at MCHS and was looking for a unique project that could combine what we do in product development with the skills they had learned in music over the years,” Reigle explained.

“After talking with students, the idea was born, but nothing got started last year,” Reigle added. “When the idea to create gifts for the board was pitched, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to bring the project to life.”

Photo courtesy of MIFFLIN COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT
The music box was made by students and features the words to the Mifflin County High School alma mater on the inside of the cover.

These projects were all completed by students in the Technology Education department at Mifflin County High School. For the music boxes, they were completed by students in the Product Design and Development class.

As a student fabricator, Banks not only created the design for the boxes on the computer, but he wrote the G-code to ultimately cut the boxes on the school’s computer numerical control (CNC) router machine.

The music boxes took about two weeks to make from beginning the design to end. They involved computer design software, the CNC Router, laser engraver, as well as some more traditional woodworking tools and machines.

Senior Bailey Cullen also had a big hand in completing the final product as he took the lead on the finishing process.

“He first cut the slots for the music sheet, then sanded and applied finish to all the boxes,” Reigle said. “Nathan was responsible for the creation of the music and programming of the music sheets. Writing/programming music is completely out of my realm of expertise, so all faith and confidence was placed with Nathan to complete the task, and to no surprise, he nailed it.”

Photo courtesy of MIFFLIN COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT
The finished product.

The high school’s Technology Education classes are always collaborating.

“Our students are capable of so much,” Reigle said. “Helping them learn concepts and watching them work through the design process to create is always rewarding.”

Junior Oak Yetter also presented and helped make everything that was created in Aaron Specht’s classes as did senior Hudson Sellers, who presented and helped make the personalized laser cut and engraved plaques in Rebecca ConnerMiller’s engineering and design class. He was another of the very talented student fabricators.

“The gift bags that were created included six individual gifts which each showcased specific learning experiences in each of our individualized courses and which showcase the educational experience and technological devices utilized within each realm,” ConnerMiller said.

The primary focus of Specht’s print media and production students was the leather journal, wood pen, slate coaster and the vinyl decal on the lunch bag.

Photo courtesy of MIFFLIN COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT
The top of the music box features the high school’s Husky logo.

The gifts certainly left quite an impression on the directors, who were grateful to receive wonderful gifts from talented students in the district.

“I was so pleased to see the board members’ reactions when they received these unique gifts,” Mifflin County School District Superintendent of Schools Vance Varner said.

“The students did a phenomenal job creating and presenting these gifts of appreciation to the board,” Varner added. “I am so proud of all of them. This project is just another great example of what students from our school system are creating day in and day out.”

That’s music to everyone’s ears.

Photo courtesy of MIFFLIN COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT
A lunch bag was labeled with each director’s name as the school logo.

Photo courtesy of MIFFLIN COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT
The lunch bags are lined up on a table for each director.

Photo courtesy of MIFFLIN COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT
Some of the student-made gifts for the Mifflin County School District Board of Directors.