A grand entrance — Glacier High School art students build truss for parking lot

People may have noticed a new feature to the Glacier High School campus, a truss over one of the main parking lot entrances designed and created by students.  

The timber truss spans 43 feet and is 26 feet high at the peak. It features a metal sign and concrete footings with a mountainscape motif. 

Started in March and installed July 18, the truss is the culminating first-year project of Outdoor Art, a class taught by C.J. Cummings.  

In the class, students studied artists, materials and techniques intending to design a large-scale sculpture or structure. Then, students walked around campus thinking of ideas that would beautify or improve different spaces before coming up with designs and proposals. 

“We talked about a lot of ideas and kept gravitating to that corner,” Cummings said. “There’s a lot going on there. It’s one of the main vehicle access points.” 

Cummings said that there was a tendency for vehicles in that spot to tear up the grass. Some sort of structure could enhance the space, make the parking entrance visible and deter people from going off the road. 

“We thought it if we put something there, there would be more ownership of the space,” he said. 

“It might spur future investment in that area,” he added, using a sidewalk as an example to connect the school to the pedestrian tunnel. 

Once the class settled on building a truss, they explored different styles and designs they wanted to include. 

“The kids drew up a bunch of different drawings and built maquettes — little models,” he said. “We decided on a hammer beam truss.”  

After developing a proposal, they pitched it to Glacier Principal Brad Holloway who gave the green light. 

Limited to the class budget, donations were sought with area businesses answering the request including Weyerhaeuser, Custom Beams and Milling, LHC, DCI Engineers, Kat Lennick of Cedar Creek Designs, Nomad GCS, Mark Chace of Chace Construction, Amber Major of Commercial Machine Service and Midway Tools. 

WITH A background in timber framing, Cummings had the expertise to teach the eight students who, for the most part, had no prior experience. 

“This was totally new for a lot of them,” he said. “Some never touched a drill or saw. This gave them the opportunity to use everything but the big forklift.” 

“We saw it as an opportunity that might not come along a second time,” he said. 

Outdoor Art student Mandie Manning, who will be a senior next school year, made sure to be at the school when the truss was installed. 

“Seeing it put up was very rewarding,” Manning said, who hadn’t yet seen the finished product. 

The eight students who made up Outdoor Art had worked on the project throughout the 2023-24 school year during a two-period block. Manning worked on the design of the sign hanging from the center beam. The design features a sun rising behind rolling mountains where the text “Glacier High School” has been cut out. Sun rays shine among puffy clouds. 

“The sign was designed in Photoshop from a rough sketch on paper,” Manning said. “The design was sent to a laser printer and cut out of metal.” 

The concrete footings also feature a mountain motif. Building the forms was one of Manning’s favorite parts of the project. Students cut out mountains from corrugated metal sheets, screwing them into wood forms.  

Manning said she didn’t expect to be part of such a large-scale project when she enrolled in the class and was grateful for the experience of learning new skills alongside her classmates to improve their high school. 

“I liked working as a team, as a class. It’s not just one person’s project but everyone’s ideas and hard work coming together,” Manning said. 

To get the project done, students in other classes and programs stepped in to assist including shop students in teacher Jacob Deitz’ class. Once school ended, Cummings wrapped up the project with help from his dad, friends, community members and even the school’s football team. 

“I really want to emphasize my gratitude for all the contributors, donors and all the students who pitched in. The football team was coming into morning weight routines and they would come out and help,” Cummings said. “I’d probably still be working on it right now, if not for all those people.” 

Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com. 

    Glacier High School Outdoor Art students take a break from building a truss that was recently installed over one of the main parking lot entrances at the school. Students worked on the project during the 2023-24 year. Pictured left to right: Olivia Janetski-Biggs, Mandie Manning, Isaac Olson and Marin Colley. (Photo provided by C.J. Cummings)
  

    A preliminary planning sketch by Glacier High School student Mandie Manning is held up to compare it with the final product. (Photo provided by C.J. Cummings)
  

    Glacier High School student Robert Knowles adds 2-by-4 bracing to reinforce the footing and pier form. (Photo provided by C.J. Cummings)