SAN DIEGO — Students at De Portolla Middle School are turning piles of parts into musical masterpieces as part of an innovative technology program that teaches engineering skills through guitar building.
Seventh-grader Gavin Avalon recently completed his own custom electric guitar under the guidance of Kevin White, who was named Teacher of the Year.
"Dream job would be to be in engineering and, um, like robotics and stuff so I think this was like perfect path to go down," Avalon said.
The guitar-building program is part of White's Gateway to Technology course, which he enhanced four years ago to include this unique hands-on project.
"Mr. White has helped me through every single bit," Avalon said.
White's program stands out among similar technology courses in the district.
"Many of the schools in the county and especially in our district have a gateway to tech program, but this is the only one that has this level 2 and the guitar program," White said.
The program is funded through grants that allow White to purchase guitar kits and wood for students to craft their own custom instruments.
"It's a completely custom shape that they designed. They get their own pick guards. Some students were even doing little laser animation cuts and things like that into their bodies," White said.
While the building process takes an entire semester to complete, White finds the most rewarding aspect is watching students develop confidence in their abilities.
"Seeing them go from the 'oh my gosh, we're going to build an electric guitar' to the finished product, and then they're like, 'you know what, that wasn't as hard as I thought it was gonna be,'" White said.
The program has inspired students like Avalon to continue exploring music beyond the classroom.
"I think I'm gonna try to practice and try to play the guitar while I have it," Avalon said.
This story was reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
