A Lighthouse Shines Anew
Teacher: Russ Norris
School: DeTour High School, DeTour, Michigan
Impact: Michigan high school students use Pro/DESKTOP to help restore a dilapidated historic site
DeTour Reef Lighthouse stands old and worn on the outskirts of northern Michigan, at the mouth of St. Mary's River. The Art Deco style lighthouse marks the confluence of Lake Huron and Lake Superior and has been a landmark for decades, safely guiding boaters into the Great Lakes. Although the lighthouse appears in good condition to the
untrained eye, it is deteriorating rapidly. In 1998, area civic leaders formed the DeTour Reef Light Preservation Society, a non-profit organization focused on restoring the beacon to its original glory. Teachers and students of DeTour High School in DeTour, Michigan, have taken up the torch for this beloved landmark as well and are working to ensure its survival.
In the fall of 2000, a team of DeTour students, led by Russ Norris, a business and computer teacher at DeTour High School, began recreating the plans for the 74-foot high lighthouse. Since then, as an ongoing part of an after-school program with a technology theme -- the U.S. Department of Education-funded Klick! (Kids Learning in Computer Klubhouses) -- students have been using PTC's Pro/DESKTOP 3D design software to create a virtual version of the steel and concrete lighthouse. The original architectural drawings of the lighthouse and the new 3D digitized ones have been instrumental in beginning the process of preserving and restoring the lighthouse.
Along with Norris, Brian Nettleton, a drafting and shop teacher at DeTour High School, worked with the students as they used Pro/DESKTOP. This software was provided to their schools as part of the Design & Technology in Schools Program sponsored by PTC, a Massachusetts-based product development software company. The students used Pro/DESKTOP to create drawings of two cranes that originally sat on the corners of the lighthouse base.
"This was an especially tricky project for the students because the only drawings the preservation society could locate were sketches of the cranes on the deck of the lighthouse that did not include any dimensions," said Norris. "The company that manufactured the crane probably had detailed engineering drawings but nobody has been able to relocate them so the drawings the students have been creating are based on the sketches and the original crane itself."
A local fabricating company, Bunker Manufacturing, used the students' 3D drawings as a guide when making nearly perfect replicas of the cranes. Restoring the cranes was an essential first step in the lighthouse rebuilding process because they allow supplies and materials to be unloaded from boats and brought into the lighthouse.
DeTour student John Pieknik said he enjoys working on the project. "School is much more interesting when you see your work being used in real life. We're not only learning how to use new technology, we're also doing something useful for our community." He plans to use his involvement in this project to meet an Eagle Scout requirement to show leadership in a community service project.
DeTour High School has used Pro/DESKTOP has also been used in other class situations as well. Brian Nettleton teaches Pro/DESKTOP in his drafting classes, where students design computers in 3D. "Students who lack focus in the classroom have been transformed through this Pro/DESKTOP experience," he said.
Last year, as a geometry teacher, math teacher Angie Reed used Pro/DESKTOP to help students relate numbers to everyday life and make math fun. Teachers also are developing an activity with Pro/DESKTOP that allows students to create floor plans and walls to see how angles are relevant in a design.
"What makes the use of Pro/DESKTOP special," says Reed, who is now the principal of Detour High School, "is that students are able to see the impact their work has on the real world."
DeTour teachers are excited about the interest students have displayed in technology learning since working with Pro/DESKTOP. Who would have thought students would be eager to stay after school? Teenagers from this area of Michigan's Upper Peninsula certainly are, and in the end they and their lighthouse will be transformed.
