A Holy Rosary High School Grade 12 student’s donation of a fire pit will find a good home after the Lloydminster RCMP auction it off for charity.
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Kaylee Kachur volunteered to build the fire pit as part of her welding class and spent class time and lunch hours on the project. She said she wanted her work to bring joy and show how students take pride in their work.
“For me, it was knowing that whatever I was creating, I wanted people to be happy and show them students who put a lot of pride into their work,” said Kachur.
RCMP Const. Melanie Flynn, one of two school resource officers (SRO) in the community, suggested the project to Holy Rosary’s shop teacher. She said the class ran with the idea with Kachur jumping at the chance to help.
“Her design turned out amazing and the hard work and detail that went into her project really inspired me,” said Flynn.
Kachur said she faced several challenges while making the fire pit, including a defect in her welding.
“When welding, I had what is called porosity in my welds, which is a type of defect in the weld. It makes the weld full of holes. This was a challenge for me because I had to find the root source of why it was occurring,” she said, noting the problem solving gave her confidence while showing her how to approach problems in new ways.
“Having all these things happen just shows me that anything can happen, and sometimes, you have to work twice as hard to fix them,” said Kachur.
Flynn said she and Const. Cory Booth, the other SRO for the area, visited the shop class on the last day of school to accept the donation and thank Kachur and her classmates. While there, they heard about Kachur’s future plans over breakfast.
“We are going to auction off the fire pit amongst the local RCMP officers, who will definitely want to purchase this amazingly crafted RCMP-branded fire pit,” said Flynn. “All the proceeds will go to support a local non-profit organization that supports victims of crime.”
Kachur said she hopes the donation brings happiness and confidence to others.
“I hope it shows we can all make beautiful things. It doesn’t matter who you are; anyone can do anything.”
Flynn said she plans to write a short note about Kachur to accompany the fire pit so the winning bidder knows who made it.
“I think the community should be inspired by work hard and give back to the community,” said Flynn.
Kachur plans to pursue a career in heavy-duty mechanics after graduation.
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