It is one thing to ask students to think outside the box. It is quite another to ask them to build outside the box – way outside, like another country.
That is just what Great Bend High School Technology Teacher Jake Hofflinger asked of his students.
And boy, was he impressed with the results.
“I had three students do an outstanding job on a recent assignment,” Hofflinger said. “I have been teaching this activity all 15 years of my career and this is the best one I have seen.”
The course is Production Blueprint Reading and the assignment was to create a Worlds Fair Pavilion for a country of their choosing.
The students, acting as an architectural firm, performed research, created scale plan and elevation drawings and constructed a scale model from foam board.

Dylan Lamb, Mayra Ramirez and Odalis Mata rose to the challenge and created a French pavilion for France in a1’:1/16” scale.
“Our group thought that the Eiffel Tower was easily identifiable as French and would make a good central structure so we chose France to research,” said Ramirez, a sophomore.
Hofflinger allowed students 10 class periods to finish the project, but this particular group “worked after school, during Advisory class and Mayra even took it home.”
“(The completed pavilion) is detailed and accurate,” Hofflinger said. “It does a great job of showing off the
French culture.
“Every part of the assignment from the research to the finished model was done very well. It is obvious that this group enjoyed the assignment and wanted to do the best work possible.
“It is a great thing to see kids really want to do a good job utilizing the skills they just learned,” he said.

“It was satisfying to see it all come together. We each researched, designed buildings and drew blueprints,” said Mata, a freshman. “At the end we got to build it and see what it looks like.”
“I liked this project because it was hands-on and we could do what we wanted, researching, drawing and building,” said Lamb, a sophomore.
“A lot of classes don’t do that. I would much rather problem solve and make a solution.”
After showing it to eighth graders at the Great Bend Middle School Career Fair on the Jan. 17, Hofflinger said it will be on display at the Great Bend High School library.
Library Media Specialist Emily Mulch is extending an invitation to the public to view the project at the high school library.