Upcycle Materials to Display Student Work

As an elective teacher in a high school fighting for student enrollment, there is no better way to promote your classes then putting student work on display. Multiple teachers in the hallway "fight" over the limited space above the lockers to display student work. Outside of one of the metal shops, there is an old display case that has been neglected for quite a few years. It looks like it is time to take this display case over and give it a new look!

1. 3"x3" grid - found in my garage
2. hacksaw/Bolt Cutters - already purchased
3. Red spray paint - yard sale
4. Zip ties - donation
5. Paint - dove white for the inside of the display case (Your choice)
6. Tape Measure - already purchased

As I was cleaning out my garage, I came across this red 3x3" grid that was most likely used in a department store to hang closes or used as to support items in a display window. I was going to recycle it at the scrap yard but started to think about how it could be reused/repurposed. There is an old display case in school that does not have any shelves to display work and could be used as a great advertisement for our technology education program, mainly the wood and metal programs.

Out with the old in with the new!

Time to clean out the old display case!

Students were able to take all of the paper down off the walls of the case and pulled all of the staples and thumbtacks.

After pulling the paper off of the back wall, we saw an homage to the Class of 1980. It seems that this case has been neglected for quite some time. We pulled the glass out of the light boxes so we could add a new coat of paint; 1980s army green was not going to brighten and revitalize this case.

Students painted the inside of the case Dove White to give it a bright new look. We put the glass back in the light boxes.

Time to get some measurements.

Students were able to figure out that the case measured 48" x 48" x 9". This is a good thing because the grid that we have is divided into roughly 3" squares.

Students were able to cut the grid using a hack saw into the following parts:

2 - 24" x 48" - For the back wall (One piece would not fit past the glass doors)

3 - 9" x 48" - For the vertical supports

6 - 9 " x 24" - For selves

Once the pieces were cut, red spray paint was used to cover any of the metal showing.

Attached a couple of zip ties to the back pieces and vertical pieces to hold them in position. Zip tied the shelves at the desired height to easily display projects of different size.

The red wire grid allows the light to brighten up the display case. This gives our department to show off what students are completing and give credit to the great work that they are doing.