West Las Vegas High School students’ doghouse designs made of cardboard. These were made before making doghouses out of donated wood. The students, led by instructor Jacobo Rael, made the doghouses this past school year.
An encounter between local animal welfare advocates and a high school woodworking teacher led to several dogs getting cozy houses to protect them from the elements.
West Las Vegas High School welding, woodworking and construction teacher Jacobo Rael guided his students to plan, design and build doghouses to give away to local dogs in need during the past school year. The project was made possible with construction materials donated to the school by Price’s Furniture.
Staff at the furniture store were recently tasked with cleaning out the store’s warehouse and getting rid of damaged and unusable furniture products, said RaeDawn Price, whose husband, Jess Price, owns the furniture store.
Instead of simply throwing the material away, RaeDawn Price said the option of repurposing it seemed like a better idea. She is also involved with Animal Advocates of Northern New Mexico – a Las Vegas-based animal welfare group.
“Jess and I both have a heart for Las Vegas and for animals,” Price said. Eventually, the idea to turn the unusable furniture material into doghouses was suggested. Contact was made with West Las Vegas Schools Superintendent Chris Gutierrez and West Las Vegas High School Principal Carla Pacheco. The material found its way into Rael’s hands and classrooms, where he directed his students on how to turn it into usable doghouses.
Pacheco described RaeDawn Price, Gutierrez and Ashley Ann Arellanes – who is also an animal advocate who has worked closely with Price – as community members “who are really compassionate about animal welfare.”
Rael said it was wonderful that the Prices thought to donate the material to the school.
“It gave an opportunity for the kids to learn something,” Rael said of the donation. “It just made it for me.”
Rael said that the construction of the doghouses began with cardboard that was also salvaged from the trash. Students planned how they would construct a doghouse with the cardboard, essentially using the lighter material to create a blueprint of the finished product.
Three classes worked on the doghouses, Rael said. These were two woodworking classes and one construction class. Rael said students came up with the designs for the doghouses on their own.
“Students did everything,” Rael said. “All I did was guide them in this project.”
The best “blueprints” were selected to help guide students and Rael in building the doghouses. Small, medium and large cardboard “blueprints” were chosen to accommodate dogs of different sizes.
RaeDawn Price said the finished houses were donated to dogs in need throughout the community.
The doghouse project was a learning experience for the students, Pacheco noted, as there was a set of skills they needed to learn before they were allowed to handle the equipment to build the doghouses.
The project also taught students about being active members in their community, Pacheco said, by having the experience of making a difference.
“I think it allows students to value their community a little more at this age,” Pacheco said of the project. “It raises awareness about what is going on in our community.”