CTE students in Utica Community Schools go to bat for cancer foundation

Career and Technical Education students recently used their expertise to step up to the plate to support a foundation honoring a former UCS student.

Design and Engineering, Machine Shop and Woodworking students all teamed up to make and emboss baseball bats to support a foundation named after Cassie Hines, an Eisenhower High School graduate who passed away from cancer in 2012.

“This collaborative effort turned out amazing and could not have been done without all of the talents from these programs,” said teacher Ryan deCardenas. “This project demonstrated to our students the entire manufacturing process from concept to creation. The end result of the project was that our students used skills they’ve learned in CTE at UCS to give back to the community.”

The first step in creating the bat took place in Patrick Packan’s Eisenhower High School Design and Engieering class, which used drawing software to create specifications for a metal template of the foundation's logo. The template was then created in Robert Newman’s Stevenson High School machine shop.
Woodworking students used the metal template to burn “The Cassie Hines Shoes Cancer Foundation” logo onto baseball bats that were used at a recent fundraiser.

Woodworking students created the bats out of real hand split white ash baseball bat billets from Leatherstocking billets, a national company. A billet is a round stock that is raw material used to create into a bat.

The Cassie Hines Shoe Foundation was created to guide young adults with cancer, to social support programs and services that can help them manage their mental healing as well as their physical battle.

Cassie was a junior at Eisenhower High School when she was diagnosed with cancer.

Source: Utica Community Schools

Dr. Christine Johns, Superintendent of Schools

http://www.uticak12.org