Herbert Hoover High School students Josh Stuart (black tee shirt) and Lane Ramsey (white tee shirt) work on a custom-made bench for the Intermediate Court of Appeals of West Virginia. June 16, 2022.

Photo By J. Alex Wilson - Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia/lootpress

CLENDENIN, WVa. – Three students from the Herbert Hoover High School in Clendenin, W.Va., shop classroom, and their teacher are building furniture for a new Intermediate Court of Appeals (ICA) courtrooms.

The school won the bid to produce the benches, podiums, and tabletops for the main courtroom in Charleston and five satellite courtrooms. The students are also producing carved wooden ICA seals for each bench, according to the website, lootpress.

The main courtroom bench is made of walnut and will seat up to five judges, in case the Supreme Court ever needs to hear a case from a high-tech courtroom. The satellite courtroom benches, made of cherry, are much smaller and are designed to hold 55-inch televisions that will link the courtrooms in Grant, Lewis, Morgan, Raleigh, and Wetzel Counties to the main courtroom in Charleston. Chief Justice John Hutchison, Justice Tim Armstead, and ICA Judges Tom Scarr and Charles Lorensen visited the shop on July 7 to see the furniture and discuss details like where to put pencil drawers, lights, and electrical outlets for laptops. The justices and judges thanked the students and their teacher for their work.

ICA Chief Judge Dan Greear plans to visit the shop later this month. “I have heard rave reviews of the beauty of the furniture. I am glad we were able to provide this learning experience for Herbert Hoover students.”

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Larry Adams is a Chicago-based writer and editor who writes about how things get done. A former wire service and community newspaper reporter, Larry is an award-winning writer with more than three decades of experience. In addition to writing about woodworking, he has covered science, metrology, metalworking, industrial design, quality control, imaging, Swiss and micromanufacturing . He was previously a Tabbie Award winner for his coverage of nano-based coatings technology for the automotive industry. Larry volunteers for the historic preservation group, the Kalo Foundation/Ianelli Studios, and the science-based group, Chicago Council on Science and Technology (C2ST).

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