{"id":18023,"date":"2022-06-01T01:06:32","date_gmt":"2022-06-01T01:06:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=18023"},"modified":"2022-05-31T20:15:48","modified_gmt":"2022-05-31T20:15:48","slug":"engineering-dreams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2022\/06\/01\/engineering-dreams\/","title":{"rendered":"Engineering Dreams"},"content":{"rendered":"

Longtime BCSD teacher leaves behind a legacy that looks to the future<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

By Eric Valentine<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
A WRHS teacher since 1994, Lupton is retiring this year and proved it on social media with his official Dear John letter. Photo credit: Kevin Lupton<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When 60 Residential Construction Academy (RCA) students at Wood River High School designed and developed a newly constructed Hailey residence, they probably didn\u2019t realize that the modest, gray-and-white single-family residence was the perfect metaphor for the teacher who spent the past four years helping them make it a reality.<\/p>\n

Gray: What better color to reflect the longer, less-predictable construction timeline thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic?<\/p>\n

Single-family home: What\u2019s more desperately needed than that in these parts?<\/p>\n

Contemporary, modest, unassuming, and charming: Numerous students and co-workers would use those words to describe Kevin Lupton himself.<\/p>\n

This January, the WRHS Engineering, Architecture and Robotics teacher announced his intent to retire on social media and got swarmed with congratulatory comments, but moreover, grateful ones. Like this one, from former student Matthew Johnson:<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t be where I am without you. Your guidance was top-notch. Thanks for your dedication,\u201d the alum wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have two particular memories to share,\u201d Lupton replied. \u201cI was in the stands the game you broke your leg and I remember your mother went running out on the field. The second was in the classroom. I had a programmable robotics board I had purchased, kind of the precursor to an Arduino board. I bought it with you in mind, knowing you were a student that would problem his way through it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Problem your way through it\u2019 is Luptonese for troubleshooting and learning by trial and error. It\u2019s a concept Thomas Edison captured when he said (paraphrased): \u201cI have never failed, but I have learned a thousand ways how not to make a lightbulb.\u201d And it\u2019s a concept Lupton masterfully embedded into his students over a career that spanned 30 years.<\/p>\n

How so?<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the biggest advantage electives teachers have\u2014we can meet the students where they\u2019re at. We don\u2019t have a core curriculum we have to get through per semester,\u201d Lupton said. \u201cThis is a training experience not a production line. Training kids how to navigate the permit process and the design takes time, then they have to actually execute it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2004, the construction academy was launched by Lupton and community member Sue Woodward\u2014who Lupton said understood there were housing and workforce issues in the Valley years ago. It enables students to learn and master a wide variety of construction methods and techniques, from rough framing to cabinetmaking and intricate woodworking. Late last month, an open house was held at the most recently built turnkey home. The project started with a design created by Lupton\u2019s architecture students, who presented their plans to the City of Hailey for permits. Once the permits were approved, RCA students got to work on building the home under the guidance of construction teacher Ian Blacker, which is the third to be completed in the program\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

\u201cPreparing kids for a life past high school\u2014a career doing something they love and are good at\u2014that\u2019s what our job is,\u201d Lupton said. \u201cI know there are numerous kids who graduated from this program to go on to become architects, engineers, you name it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Legacies In So Many Directions<\/b><\/p>\n

One of Lupton\u2019s favorite all-time students did just that. His son spent all four years on his dad\u2019s extremely successful robotics team. He went on to get a mechanical engineering degree and just recently started working for POWER Engineers in Hailey. His daughter lives in Coeur d\u2019Alene, where she is a nurse practitioner.<\/p>\n

Lupton, who spent a career on the technical side of things, said he and his wife will spend a lot of their new free time in nature.<\/p>\n

It Takes A Valley<\/b><\/p>\n

In addition to the WRHS program, students at Carey High School also have the opportunity to take part in the Residential Construction Academy (RCA). That school\u2019s program has completed six homes since 2000.<\/p>\n

The house, located at 2761 Winterhaven Drive in Hailey, was made possible thanks to the support of numerous local businesses and community partners. They include:<\/p>\n

Apollo Excavation \u2022 Blake Turner \u2022 Bob Wright \u2022 Bozzuto Appliances \u2022 Bradley Construction \u2022 Blaine County Education Foundation \u2022 BCSD Maintenance Department \u2022 Buffalo Electric \u2022 C&R Electric \u2022 City of Hailey Building Department \u2022 Classic Stoneworks \u2022 Clearwater Landscaping \u2022 Conrad Brothers Construction \u2022 D&S Heating & Sheetmetal \u2022 D Swaner Welding \u2022 Electrical Wholesale Supply \u2022 Elevation Builders \u2022 Evans Plumbing \u2022 Ferguson Plumbing \u2022 Franklin Building Supply \u2022 Gale Insulation \u2022 Galena Engineering \u2022 Greenworks \u2022 Hank Brown Painting \u2022 Houston Lumber \u2022 Howie Royal \u2022 HyLift Crane \u2022 Idaho Lumber \u2022 Idaho Mountain Builders \u2022 Interior Contractors \u2022 Jay McCoy \u2022 Jeff Anderton \u2022 Jodie Taylor \u2022 Lloyd Construction \u2022 Magleby Construction \u2022 Mike Chatterton \u2022 Morell Engineering \u2022 Mrs. Pratt\u2019s FCCLA Class \u2022 Neighbors of 2761 Winterhaven \u2022 Overhead Garage Door \u2022 Platt Electric \u2022 Professional Roofing \u2022 Rocky Mountain Flooring \u2022 Sawtooth Paint & Airless \u2022 Standard Plumbing \u2022 Stromberg Moore \u2022 Sue Woodyard \u2022 Tanner Construction \u2022 Terry\u2019s Heating & Air \u2022 Valley Maintenance \u2022 Vital Ink Architecture<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Longtime BCSD teacher leaves behind a legacy that looks to the future By Eric Valentine When 60 Residential Construction Academy (RCA) students at Wood River High School designed and developed a newly constructed Hailey residence, they probably didn\u2019t realize that the modest, gray-and-white single-family residence was the perfect metaphor for the teacher who spent the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":18029,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[72,74,18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-18023","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-community","8":"category-education","9":"category-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18023"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18023\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18033,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18023\/revisions\/18033"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}