The woodshop at Dallas ISD's Career Institute South was a symphony of scroll saws, sanders, and drills as students worked on the pieces of rocking horses to give to children at the Ronald McDonald House.
"It's fun," junior Leland Warren said. "Teaching me different things I don't know."
Terry Stotts has taught in the district for about 20 years, and his students have built rocking horses to donate for holiday gifts at the Ronald McDonald House for almost that long.
"Teaches the kids not only woodworking skills, but it teaches them how to work and how to maybe get employment," Stotts said. "It's about self-esteem, communication skills."
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The students work as a team, each working on parts of the toy. Some of what they are learning is about giving.
"Most people nowadays, they can receive, but they can't give back," Stotts said. "It's just having a heart for other people, helping other people...giving back to people that need help."
Stotts says that includes his students.
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"Some of these kids come here, and they don't feel like they can do much," Stotts said. "Hopefully one of these guys will come back and teach one day."
For Stotts, teaching is more than a job. "Yeah, it is," he said with a crack in his voice. "You know what? I hated school. I guess I love kids."
Love isn't in the draft construction plans for the rocking horses, but it's in every one of them.
"When I make it, I think about the sick children," senior Jose Zapata said. "I think about my family."
"It's making everyone feel good," Warren said. "I know it makes me feel good to make the kids happy."
The toys will be delivered to the Ronald McDonald House the week of Christmas.
