An 18-Foot Airplane Wing, XPS Foam, and Why This School Is Something Special
I teach 3D Art at Pinellas Park High School in Florida, and I'll be honest, this place never stops surprising me.
PPHS has some genuinely remarkable magnet programs. One of them is the First Responders: National Guard Center for Emergency Management, a four-year program that trains students in firefighting, emergency medical response, and disaster planning. These aren't just classroom lessons. Students train with real equipment, earn certifications, and work alongside actual first responders in the community.
Every year the program hosts Disaster Day, a showcase where students demonstrate what they've learned through real-world simulated scenarios. This year's centerpiece? A crashed Bombardier CRJ 900 regional jet.
That's where the art room comes in.
One of the program leaders asked if my students and I could build a life-size airplane wing for the crash site exhibit. Eighteen feet long. Out of XPS foam, cardboard, and paint.
Of course we said yes.
We've finished the skeleton, and next week we start adding the cardboard skin. Watching students problem-solve the structure — figuring out how wings are actually built, how to fake a convincing surface at scale, how to make something look crashed — has been one of those projects that reminds you why hands-on making matters so much in education.
This is exactly the kind of cross-disciplinary, community-rooted project that gets students excited. Art meets engineering meets storytelling meets civic purpose. It doesn't get much better than that.
If you love this kind of creative, build-it-yourself energy, I've been turning my best classroom projects and lesson plans into kits you can try at home. Head over to my store and take a look, there's something in there for curious makers of all ages.
