That Tree-Topping Star? NHPS Students Did That

New Haven’s annual holiday tree on the Green shines extra bright this year — as the ten-and-a-half-foot aluminum star up top was handmade by ten manufacturing students from Hillhouse and Wilbur Cross.

Just in time for the city’s annual tree lighting celebration Thursday, New Haven Public School (NHPS) high schoolers in the district’s manufacturing pathway delivered to the parks department the star at the top of the tree. 

NHPS Science Department Supervisor Bob McCain told the Independent that, of the program’s 18 manufacturing students, ten worked directly on fabricating the star in partnership with manufacturer Penn Globe and the Manufacturing and Technical Community Hub (MATCH).

The team made the star in just three weeks. They created it by using the measurements of a previous holiday-tree-topping-star for reference. Rather than using rebar steel, which the previous star was made of, this time around the students built the star’s 18-inch arms out of aluminum. In total, the star is about 10.5 feet long.

During the process students learned about different metal properties and took measurements for the piece. Penn Globe did the welding and returned the project back to the students, who then wrapped the star’s 14 rods with 1,200 lights. While doing so the students learned about energy efficient LED lights.

“To see how everything gets done and create something that the whole New Haven is going to see, that was the coolest thing to me,” said Hillhouse senior Arriana Jones, who worked on making the holiday tree star. ​“I just feel so proud of myself and my group.”

NHPS’ manufacturing program kicked off three years ago for Cross and Hillhouse students. Its first class students are now juniors in high school. They’ve partnered with MATCH, a Fair Haven-based manufacturing training nonprofit, to get hands-on career experience. The students also take college courses through Housatonic Community College’s Advanced Manufacturing Program.

A new manufacturing lab space is currently being built out at Hillhouse. The lab was funded with the help of $2 million secured by U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro to acquire the relevant equipment. McCain told the Independent Thursday that the lab is nearly complete, and is expected to have its grand opening in January. 

He highlighted that students in the manufacturing pathway will be able to go right into the workforce or further their education with the 20 college credits they receive from the program’s courses. Freshmen in the program immediately begin taking college courses like blueprint reading to start in their field. 

“There’s a growing population of students who are looking at options after graduating from high school; not just college, but they want careers,” he said. ​“Our students will come out with a wealth of knowledge and experience for them to think about their future in a different way.” McCain and other NHPS manufacturing leads also secured $45,000 to establish a middle school program to recruit rising eighth graders into the manufacturing pathway. 

The high school program is so popular that it had a waitlist for interested students, McCain said, and it’s current students this year have a 95 percent attendance rate.

“Our pathways are unique in the fact that the kids not only get the career opportunities and work on state-of-the-art machines, but they also get college credits and graduate with choices. Not many kids graduate with choices,” McCain concluded. 

Despite not knowing anything about manufacturing careers before joining the program, Arriana Jones said she’s glad she took the chance on joining the program when she was told about it while in eighth grade. 

She said she couldn’t believe that she and her classmates were entrusted to take on such an important and visible project as the tree-topping star. ​“I couldn’t believe it. From the kids at Hillhouse and Cross we sincerely thank the City of New haven for having faith in us and giving us the opportunity,” she said. 

The process of making the star was fun, she said, because it was hands-on and the students were able to brainstorm and test how to twist the lights and whether to use zip ties to make sure the connections were stable. 

She described the group she’s worked with for the past three years as a family. ​“This whole class makes me feel really important,” she said. 

Jones is considering a career in architecture or manufacturing. During her senior year in high school, she’ll be interning with General Dynamics Electric Boat during her senior year. 

“This offers me more to do with my life instead of going out and getting in trouble or having to worry about whether you want to go to college or not,” she said about the manufacturing program. ​“Even if you don’t want to go to college you can get into this program instead and you’ll be set.”

MATCH Board Chair Marcia LaFemina told the Independent that MATCH is excited about expanding its partnership with NHPS. 

The 18 juniors from Cross and Hillhouse who work with MATCH have spent the past two months learning the fundamentals of machinery, measuring, and safety. 

When the MATCH partnership began with NHPS, LaFemina asked the city’s parks department to send any projects their way for students to work on.

LaFemina said that she hopes when the community sees the work happening at MATCH with NHPS students, it will inspire others to sending the team more projects. 

“Give us work to do and it benefits the students. We need it from more than the city. We need it from manufacturers,” she said. 

Next up, MATCH hopes to work with students to secure a project refurbishing and retrofitting city light structures.