In October 2024, students from Ashby Public School’s Manufacturing Exploration class spent some afternoons at the baseball field replacing the sheet metal on the dugout roofs. Lakeside Lumber donated the materials. The students brought the labor, the safety supervision, and a lot of energy.
The Project
The dugouts at the Ashby baseball field had served their time — the sheet metal roofing was past its useful life. Replacing it gave the Manufacturing Exploration class a real-world project: lay out the panels, fasten them down properly, work safely on a roof, and finish to a quality the school could be proud of.
Huge shoutout to Scott Kamarath, who oversaw the project on-site. The students did the actual work — Lakeside just supplied what they needed to get it done.
Why We Do This
Programs like Ashby’s Manufacturing Exploration class aren’t just curriculum — they’re how the next generation of skilled workers learns the trades by actually doing them. Donating sheet metal is easy. Watching a group of high schoolers turn that pile of materials into a finished roof on a community field is the part that matters.
This kind of partnership is also what the Ashby FFA chapter recognized when they named Lakeside their Outstanding Business Supporter the following spring. The dugout project was one of several reasons the chapter cited.
Thanks to the Ashby Ag Department, Scott, and every student who showed up. The dugouts look great.
Project documented by the Ashby Ag & FFA chapter (November 7, 2024) and the Ashby Legacy Fund (October 10, 2024) on their respective Facebook pages.