REGINA — Local teacher Quinn Nikulak is looking for some help to complete a unique educational project with students, and it sort of hinges on local businesses with unwanted plexiglass shields.
Nikulak, who teaches in Kelliher, Sask. approximately 140 kilometres northeast of Regina, has organized a hands-on construction project that started with his math class, as part of their lesson on trigonometry.
Calculating surface area and angles turned into creating blueprints for a bunch of little free libraries, said Nikulak, who really encourages the idea of teaching using real-life scenarios and skills.
Now, those math students are going to build their blueprints during the winter semester in their construction class, and install their little free libraries in Kelliher and surrounding communities of Lestock, Muskowekwan First Nation and Ituna.
“It was something that was supposed to bring math into the real world,” said Nikulak. “We have a tendency to think of math as math, English as English and never shall they meet, but [they do] and so if we can do something to liven it up, make it realistic, bring it into the real world, that’s a good task.”
Students were originally supposed to wrap up their little libraries before the end of the summer, but an unforeseen delay actually allowed Nikulak to have a moment of further inspiration as an educator.
“I was at my local Co-op and I was looking at [the tills] and thought, ‘that’s a lot of plastic that’s going to go in the dump,’” said Nikulak.
The students were meant to build wooden doors on their little libraries, but now, Nikulak is hoping to collect enough donated plexiglass materials to use instead.
Using a local Facebook group, Nikulak put out a call to Regina businesses offering to take any donated protective barriers or shields they may be looking to toss, now that they’re no longer required.
He said right away, he was contacted by a handful of plexiglass suppliers from the city, offering to donate materials and cut scraps from other projects in their shops.
“People are willing to support things, and they’re always willing to support something different and fun,” said Nikulak. “And for projects like this, we really are dependent on the community.”
Part of the call for donations of materials was budgetary, Nikulak said, but another, larger part was to promote reusing and recycling as a valuable mindset — one he often uses himself in his woodworking side business.
He felt that upcycling unwanted plastics for this project offered a good message to his students, on top of the curriculum fulfilments.
“I’ve been trying to instill that in my students, that just because something’s old doesn't mean it doesn’t have parts that can’t be used or we can’t refresh it,” said Nikulak.
Choosing little free libraries for this project was another conscious decision, said Nikulak. The idea was to promote accessible literacy in small communities and to show students they can contribute something valuable to their communities.
“I try to make it really clear to my students that if you want to improve your community, you can do it. You don’t need to be the mayor or councillor or prime minister. Everyone can do it,” he continued. “Things like murals and little libraries, stuff like that, these are all things that we can take on.”
And this isn’t the first construction project Nikulak has embarked on with students.
Previous projects include creating sensory boards to distribute to schools across the Prairie Valley School Division, as well as constructing raised garden beds for Kelliher School’s outdoor learning space.
Nikulak said he sees intrinsic value in these kinds of hands-on projects as educational tools, to help students better connect with their education and their communities.
“These are the kinds of things I love offering as a teacher, and they’re always the things your students remember 10 years or fifteen years down the road,” said Nikulak. “They might walk down the street and see one of their free little libraries and, ‘oh my god, I built that.’”
Now, he’s hoping that the community agrees and offers a helping hand to keep the new version of the project viable.
Construction on the libraries won’t take place until the winter semester of the upcoming school year, said Nikulak, so donations of any materials to help out are open and welcome for a while yet.
