DERRY — Simple scraps of cardboard helped Pinkerton Academy design students earn extra credit.
Students in Rolfe Voltaire's Architecture and Design I class were offered an extra credit challenge: Create a chair or couch completely out of recycled cardboard and glue.
That cardboard morphed into life-sized chairs and sofas that could hold hundreds of pounds.
"All these kids grow up with computers," Voltaire said. "(I wanted to give them) a huge carrot to entice them to build something."
That meant offering students extra credit to design and build furniture in the hopes of earning up to 10 points toward their grade.
This is the 10th year for the cardboard chair project.
"With all my years of wisdom, I know how much you'll learn from this experience," Voltaire told students.
Points were given for visual design, quality and neatness of work, and even for how much weight it could support.
Junior Patrick Chabot teamed up with Josh Lawrence to construct a cardboard couch.
The pair carried their creation out into the hallway in the Low Building to prove it could hold a lot of weight.
Both boys sat down on their couch and it held firm.
Creating the cardboard couch took many hours.
Eileen Chabot said her son and his friend worked on the project for a long time.
"They've been working on this project for over a month and have logged on the order of 60 to 80 hours devoted to their cardboard couch creation," she said. "They have even given up entire Saturdays, Sunday afternoons, vacation days in December and, more recently, the entire day on MLK Day to dedicate their time to completion of this project."
The family pets even got involved.
"My dog would try to eat the scraps off the floor," Josh said.
Making cardboard furniture inspired some students to look forward to a possible architecture career later in life.
Some students leave their creations behind after high school so future classes can see their work.
"Some have been here for years," Voltaire said.
The cardboard furniture will be on display in Pinkerton's art show in the spring.
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