Courtesy of Hays CISD
When life tossed a wrench into his plans two years ago, Lehman High Agricultural Mechanics student Garrett Moore realized it was best to pick up that tool and use it.
After helping to rebuild much of his family’s fire-damaged home over the past two-plus years, Garrett, who is also a member of the Lehman High Future Farmers of America (FFA), turned that experience into constructing custom furniture of his own.
In late January, Garrett’s hand-crafted furniture, a bed set he made on his own, earned Grand Champion honors in the Agricultural Mechanics division at the 2022 Hays County Livestock Show in Dripping Springs.
Garrett’s path toward earning Grand Champion was one that was forged by fire. In December 2019, Garrett, his father and his grandfather were dealt a great misfortune when a lithium battery overheated, which caused a fire that severely damaged their home.
Ever since then, the trio has worked to rebuild and remodel their home, all by hand.
“Some of the things that we have done are gutted all of the house, rewired some electrical [wires] to fit our wants, installed new cabinets that we built from scratch, re-did the flooring, and built a deck in the backyard,” said Garrett.
Through that experience, Garrett gained a greater understanding of how to construct items from the ground up and work with his hands. It led Garrett to decide to make himself a bed set, which he needed post-graduation from Lehman.
“I built the bed because at the time, I was planning to move out after graduation, and I was going to need a bed,” Garrett said.
With the guidance of the Hays CISD Career and Technical Education (CTE) Department and Lehman High Ag Mechanics and FFA Advisor Raquel Niño, Garrett competed his bed set in time for the Livestock Show. He showed the bed during the Ag Mechanics competition, which is typically won by students who create barbecue pits or a trailer.
Winning Grand Champion honors meant quite a bit for Garrett. But the experience of working with his family to rebuild their home together meant a little more.
“Although my original reason was to just have a bed for myself, I wound up making lifelong memories with my grandpa and dad, which I might not have been able to make if it wasn’t for this project,” Garrett said.
