In the two weeks leading up to Veterans Day, Fox High School advanced woodworking technology students were busy creating wooden U.S. flags for those who have served in the military.
Industrial arts instructor Jason Rodaway said more than 100 students in his five advanced woodworking technology shop classes, also called Warrior Workshop, made 50 flags to donate to the Veterans Community Project.
The VCP was established in Kansas City to build tiny home communities to be used as transitional housing for veterans.
The VCP opened a tiny home community in 2023 on 4 acres of property in the Jeff Vander-Lou neighborhood in St. Louis. The community includes 50 tiny homes and an Outreach Center on for veterans experiencing homelessness, according to the organization’s website, veteranscommunityproject.org.
The website said veterans typically live in a tiny home for an average of 11 months.
Rodaway said the students made wooden flags for the veterans as “a tribute for what they have done for us.”
He said Jim Oatman, an industrial technology instructor at Van Horn High School in Independence approached him about Fox High students taking part in the project.
Rodaway said his students already had been creating wooden wall flags for about five years and entered that project in the state competition.
“Mr. Oatman saw our flags (at the state competition last spring in the Lake of the Ozarks) and said, ‘I want to team up,’” Rodaway said. “We said we were onboard from the minute he said hello. We are always looking for service projects, and this fit the bill. It also hits home for a lot of the students.”
Veterans who live in a tiny home are given a flag when they move in, and they are allowed to keep the wooden flag when they leave.
“I think it is pretty cool,” junior Zach Brown, 16, of Arnold said of the class project. “We definitely should be doing it because veterans have helped out a lot.”
Rodaway said the flags were completed on Nov. 8, but he was still working with the VCP to deliver the flags to the tiny home community in St. Louis.
He said he will likely travel to the tiny home community with a group of students on a Saturday morning to donate them to the VCP.
“It is helping veterans get back on their feet and giving them a memorable gift for their service to our country,” said Rodaway’s son, sophomore Larson Rodaway, 15, of Arnold. “I was excited to help those in need. I know this is a project that can make a mark.”
The project
Jason Rodaway said it took between 12 to 15 days to complete the project.
The classes set up a mass production system to make the flags.
He said some students cut the wood, others put the pieces together to create the flags and others painted the flags.
“They learn whether mass production is for them,” Rodaway said. “For some of them, the redundancy is getting to them. I am like, ‘Well, working in a factory may not be your line of work.’”
Each of the flags is 13-by-24 inches, and may be hung using a French cleat system that has a molding attached to a wall to allow the top of an object to slide into it and hide the mounting system.
Students paint each flag by hand.
“I have learned a lot of things about how stuff is made in mass production,” said sophomore McKenna Walton, 15, of Arnold. “I was very excited because the military is big in my family. My brother (Troy Walton) is going into the Army, and my granddad and his granddad were in the military. It is very big in my family, and I am excited to do this project.”
Sophomore Miles Powell, 15, of Millstadt, Ill., whose father teaches in Fox School District, also said he was excited about the project because of his family’s military history.
“Both of my grandpas were in the Army,” he said. “It is a pretty fun experience.”
Braden said this woodworking project was meaningful because he is considering joining the Marines after graduating from Fox High.
“A lot of my family members are veterans,” he said. “I am thankful for what they did, and this is kind of a way for me to give back and thank (veterans) for what they did for us.”
Rodaway said the class made extra flags to make sure the 50 that are donated were as flawless as possible. He said the additional flags will be sold at the Fox High Spring Craft Fair on March 8-9, 2025.
Rodaway said it cost between $20 to $25 to make a flag, and most of the cost was covered by people who sponsored a flag and sales at the craft fair. He said the donations covered $500 of the project’s $800 cost.
“That way the students don’t pay anything, and neither do the veterans,” he said of the donations and proceeds from sales at the craft fair. “I want to give a big shout out to all of our sponsors.”
Rodaway said if someone wanted to donate to help cover the cost of production, they may call Fox High at 636-296-5210.
Rodaway said he plans to have students make flags for the VCP every year, and in the future, he hopes to enlist elementary students to make thank you cards to put in the boxes that the flags are delivered to the tiny home community.
“It is what makes me come to work,” Rodaway said of his classes’ service projects. “When these kids take pride in their projects, especially when it is not for them, that is the a ‘Ah-ha’ moment for me.”
The class
Fox High’s advanced woodworking technology is open to sophomores through seniors who have completed the beginning woodworking class.
“This has been a great way to explore my interests and passions,” senior Camden Shaffer, 17, of Arnold said. “If I didn’t take woodshop last year, I wouldn’t know how much I love it.”
Rodaway said every year students participate in a service project.
“We have done other service projects like wheelchair ramps, and it is amazing when they get to hand the project off,” he said. “You may have someone roll down the ramp who has not left the house in three years because it is 3 feet off the ground. The kids realize they have made an impact on someone’s life.”
Jason said with the flag project completed, the class will now begin working on their second semester projects.
“They will build anything from a dart board cabinet to furniture,” he said. “We have had china cabinets, octogen poker tables and six-draw dressers. They have to show me before I let them do an advanced project. My challenge is challenging the student and sort of guaranteeing success.”