CLEAR CREEK COUNTY, Colo. Once an empty woodshop in Clear Creek High School, the room now buzzes with the sounds of machines and students eager to build their own skis and snowboards from scratch.Over the years, the outdoor rec and tech course has focused on getting students outdoors, starting with bikes. Now, the classroom is home to an old ski press machine.The course instructor is Ben Shay, who once worked in the woodshop as a student. Now, students call out his name when they need help with building their gear."Its pretty remarkable to see that we took the plastic covers off, blew the dust off, and now it's a shop running every single day with kids running machines," Shay said.To teach students how to manufacture skis and snowboards, there needed to be the tools to do so. Students in a group project last year tried to figure out how much it would cost to get a ski press. "And the funny thing is, they went on Facebook Marketplace and found an old press from an old company here in Colorado, and they pressed, 'Are you interested?' And that led to kind of a snowball effect of conversations I had with that individual, conversations with other schools, and we ultimately ended up with the press we have now to make skis and snowboards," Shay said.From freshmen to seniors, students let their imaginations run wild while learning a craft. Senior Ayden Mellon initially thought making skis would be impossible, but thanks to Shay's help, it's been easy and fun."I think it's super cool. Honestly, its like a dream, especially because I got to build it how I wanted. It was really cool," Mellon said.Some students are avid skiers, while others have never been out on the slopes. Shay explained that while this course teaches woodworking skills, it also gives students an end product that can motivate them to get outdoors. "So with this class, we've got kids who want to snowboard every single day if they have the opportunity and kids who have never been able to because of the barriers. And so with this program and there being no class fee and no cost for it, it eliminates a lot of barriers for students to get access to... the most expensive piece of it, which is the piece you slide down the hill on," Shay said.Recently, Shift Events gave $20,000 to the Clear Creek Schools Foundation to help support the program and the Sean Wood Educational Fund. "I think that most people think a public school wouldn't have the opportunity to do so, and I think because of the grants, because of the work that our foundation's been able to do, it's opened up the door to create these curriculums for students and buy all the equipment that is really out of reach for most schools," Shay said.Students recognize the opportunity to take this course as "so cool" and "a new experience." Not only do they have bragging rights over their new gear, but they also know it is breaking barriers in access to the outdoors. "I wish more kids that didn't know how to ski could come out and make a pair of skis, and then we can go up and ski one day and help them learn or something like that. I feel like that would be sick," Mellon said.This course sparks a passion for trying new activities and encourages future opportunities for students to explore the mountains and the place they call home."It has a broader kind of community connection. It allows kids to get into jobs. We've got internships for kids at Loveland. We've got shops that are hiring kids. So it just gets kids headed in a direction that they wouldn't have if this were just an empty classroom like it was a couple of years ago," Shay said.