Donor gives school a boost

By MIKE RICHESON

Bigfork Eagle

An anonymous donor recently gave $15,000 to the Bigfork High School automotive department. The funds allowed the department to purchase a paint booth, which cost around $12,000.

“Things are really going along good,” automotive teacher Steve Melkioty said.

The spray booth takes up an entire bay in the department’s large garage. The new addition is made of steel and is essentially a building within a building. The booth won’t be operational for another couple of weeks when the electrical and venting systems are installed. Students will get their first taste of applying paint by spraying the inside of the booth.

Only a select group of students who stick with the auto body program will be able to use the new equipment. Melkioty said that he keeps the class size down to about 10 students, and those who are fortunate enough to make the cut will be able to learn how to paint vehicles. Some of them will even get to learn how the process works on their personal vehicles.

Other members of the community have donated three vehicles for students to begin working on in the fall, and they even had a welding job to rebuild a horse trailer.

“Overall, the picture is awesome,” Melkioty said. “Kids are really getting a taste of the real world and dealing with customers and being people of integrity.” It’s encouraging to see how things are going.”