The San Juan Cruisers, led by President David Stegman, has donated the $3,000 required to significantly remodel the Friday Harbor High School Tech Building.

The Tech Building hosts most of the school’s technology classes. The Cruisers wanted to support the Auto Tech program and learned that funding was an obstacle to adding a garage door and some partitions to the building.

Without hesitation, they offered to pay for all the materials for this remodel. They also offered to help with the labor to complete the remodel but, as it turned out, Friday Harbor High School teacher Cecil Dent donated all the labor for the remodel himself.

“As a result of the remodel, the Auto Tech capability has expanded significantly,” the club reported in a press release. “We can now support larger classes. In addition, before the remodel we were limited in the size of the projects by the width of the doors. As a result we could, with effort, bring an engine into the shop but nothing bigger. Now we can bring an entire automobile into the shop where we can develop skills around brakes, steering, transmissions, charging and electrical systems, and auto body repairs.”

Current projects in the shop include rebuilding a 1970 Ford 400 cid engine, working on a 1966 Buick GS, rebuilding an outboard motor, and repowering a lawn tractor with a diesel engine.

If you would like to visit the new shop and, perhaps, visit one of the classes, contact Larry Wight at 622-6586.