On Friday morning, Mazama construction students gathered around the completed structure for a photo — quietly celebrating a job well done.

The shed was picked up and transported to the Sprague River area on Saturday to provide storage for a family who lost everything in September's Copperfield Fire.

The Mazama Build

Mazama seniors Tyler Casey and Greta Baldock were among the group of 30 students who spent the past four weeks building the shed in Mazama's shop area.

The two are advanced construction students in the Manufacturing 4 class — one of the more advanced CTE pathway courses KCSD offers at the high-school level.

Greta Baldock loves working with her hands, and was pleased that the shed will be provided to a family who needs it.

Tyler Casey — dubbed the shingle master for his roofing skills — plans to be in the trades after graduation. Building this shed was both a class project and a real-world demonstration of skills he'll use professionally for the rest of his career.

A Multi-School Effort

This wasn't just Mazama's work. Students at multiple Klamath County schools are participating in the program:

  • Mazama — built the 8-by-16-foot shed
  • Chiloquin students are building a shed, but it will be a smaller 8x8-foot version
  • Henley — participating
  • Lost River — participating
  • Bonanza — participating
  • Klamath Community College (KCC) — also participating, building two insulated cottages with electricity and heating for fire victims

The cottages — built by KCC students — can be used as temporary housing.

Team Oregon Build

The program is part of Team Oregon Build — a statewide initiative that puts high-school and college construction students to work on real-world projects with real-world impact.

For students: - Real construction experience beyond the classroom - Materials and tools for the kinds of multi-week projects that demonstrate craft and persistence - Pride in finished work that genuinely helps someone

For affected families: - Storage sheds for the personal items that survived the fire - Insulated cottages for temporary housing while permanent rebuilds happen - A community signal that they're not alone — that kids at their county's schools spent four weeks building something specifically for them

That community signal matters as much as the physical structures.

The Copperfield Fire Context

The Copperfield Fire in September affected families in the Sprague River area — including some KCSD families whose kids attend Chiloquin Jr/Sr High and Chiloquin Elementary.

Recovery from a wildfire that takes everything is a long process. Insurance navigation, debris cleanup, temporary housing, permitting, rebuilding — months and years of work. The community supports that families need across that timeline are equally long.

Storage sheds, cottages, donated items, GoFundMe support, volunteer labor — all of it adds up.

Why CTE Programs Like This Matter

This shed-building project is exactly what Career and Technical Education (CTE) should do at its best:

  • Real-world relevance — students aren't building a project that gets graded and trashed; they're building something a family will use
  • Multi-week projects — practicing the persistence and quality control that defines actual construction work
  • Cross-school collaboration — Mazama, Chiloquin, Henley, Lost River, Bonanza, and KCC working toward a shared goal
  • Mentorship from instructors who've worked in the field
  • Visible impact — students see their work transported off campus and into a family's hands
  • Career pipeline development — Tyler Casey, the "shingle master," is heading directly into roofing work after graduation. Skilled construction trades need exactly that pipeline.

For Klamath County — where the skilled trades are a major employment sector — programs like this aren't optional. They're essential infrastructure for the basin's economic future.

Thank You

To the 30 Mazama students who spent four weeks on this build:

  • Tyler Casey
  • Greta Baldock
  • — and the 28 other students whose hands shaped this shed

To the Mazama construction instructors, the CTE leadership at KCSD, the principals at every participating school, and the community partners who made Team Oregon Build possible — thank you.

To the Chiloquin, Henley, Lost River, Bonanza, and KCC students whose projects are still in progress — keep going. What you're building matters.

And to the Sprague River family who'll be receiving the shed — and the other families waiting on the KCC cottages — the community is with you. Hold on through the rebuild. The basin shows up.

A Quiet Celebration

The Mazama students gathered around their completed shed and quietly celebrated a job well done.

That's the right tone. Not boastful. Not performative. Just the recognition that 30 kids, four weeks, a real family at the end of the chain — that's how you build hope.

Well done, Mazama. Well done, all the schools. Well done, KCSD.