Dream room effort sparks emotions
<p>Glacier High School assistant principal Micah Hill, right, and shop teacher Andy Fors, put the finishing touches on Caleb Speed's bedroom Saturday afternoon in Evergreen. Glacier staff and students, along with Special Spaces, have been working on Caleb's room since early February.</p>
<p>Special Spaces Flathead Valley Director Paula Strickland moves a stool into place in Caleb Speed's bedroom Saturday afternoon in Evergreen.</p>
<p>Caleb Speed reacts to seeing his new bedroom Sunday afternoon in Evergreen.</p>
Caleb Speed’s new room would be a dream to any young motocross racing fan.
From the checkered floor to the red dressers embellished with metal diamond plating and casters to mimic Snap-On tool chests, this room was created from the ground up by Glacier High School staff and students in conjunction with Special Spaces Flathead Valley Director Paula Strickland.
In the two days preceding Sunday’s room revealing to Caleb, Glacier High School staffers got their work clothes on and their hands dirty as they painted, cleaned, hauled in furniture, arranged pillows and hung curtains.
Saturday, the Evergreen home was filled with volunteers hustling about before the homecoming of the Speed family: Mother Amber, 9-year-old sister Hailey, and 8-year-old brother Logan. Since Logan shares the room with Caleb, one of his interests, horses, was also incorporated into the bedroom.
Glacier High School Principal Callie Langohr was cleaning a mirror in the Speed’s living room as consumer science teachers Joan Herzog and Lori Gray washed the kitchen table and floor. In the boys’ bedroom, Glacier High Assistant Principals Micah Hill and Lance Labrum and industrial arts teacher Andy Fors measured and trimmed a bed board to fit each bunk bed before putting mattresses on top.
“This was a big weekend for us,” Langohr said.
From painting to sewing to fundraising, Langohr said hundreds of students were involved in making the room a reality. Projects to build the furniture and sew textiles were incorporated into house and interior design, textile II design, woods I and II and drafting and CAD curriculum for the second semester of the school year.
Students drew inspiration for the room design based on a computer-generated floor plan by junior Genna Gray. Glacier seniors Isaac Johnson and Alex Hamann designed the furniture and shelving in advanced computer aided design classes that were then built by Woods’ students under the supervision of Fors and fellow industrial arts teacher Dennis Latimer.
“This is a big project,” Latimer said. “It’s been challenging sometimes but it was good for the students to understand the importance of getting it right. And it just motivates you more doing something good for a young man who could use a break and have something fun to come home to.”
Glacier student organizations including the National Honor Society, Wolfpack Leadership Club, Student Council and Freshman Academy raised about $1,200 — $300 more than their original goal — to purchase supplies for the room.
“It is almost beyond words the generosity that was so sincere from our students was beyond description. They were excited about it,” Langohr said.
One group of students started a writing campaign inviting Caleb’s favorite motocross racer, Carey Hart, to see the new bedroom. While Hart was unable to come to the Flathead, he sent students an autographed motocross racing jersey, baseball cap and Carey Hart figurines.
“This has been one of those experiences that I will personally never forget,” Langohr said. “It will be part of our history at Glacier High School and I thank the community for supporting us while we did this project over the last couple of months.”
Glacier High School staffers were impressed at how much support the community and businesses provided through donations of labor and materials.
“It allowed us to do more things that originally we didn’t think we could do,” Langohr said.
Building the dream room for Caleb was a momentous project for both the high school and Special Spaces. This was the first time Special Spaces — whose mission is to make over rooms for children with critical illnesses — worked with a school on a project.
Caleb’s was diagnosed at age 1 month with cystic fibrosis. He takes various medicines and undergoes breathing treatments daily to fight off infection and mucus buildup.
Strickland said the project went smoothly. She likened it to multiple contractors collaborating, but working independently of each other, then watching the puzzle pieces fit together.
“Glacier High School was professional, they had attention to detail. Basically, they were a designer’s dream. The students were a blast. They totally got in to it,” Strickland said. “Days like today I drive away from the job site and tears roll off my cheeks because I know what this is going to mean to this little family, which is why I do what I do.”
Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.