[2789_B_Garcia]

Our school was a remodel of the former high school campus in the school district, and luckily, our district is in a predominantly rural area just east of Austin, Tx, so the old high school had an Ag Barn that was used as a machine shop by the FFA program. We found out that the district's technology department was using it for storage and to house the copy center for our district. When our central office was remodeled, we asked the school board if we could use the space, and with the help of our principal and a few other central office administrators, we were able to get the space cleared out and have HVAC installed, and we have since inherited a lathe, a drill press, a band saw and a welder that were no longer being used by the Ag department at the main high school in our district. Long story short: if your district has an Ag department, make friends with them, they probably have a lot of the tools and space you need, otherwise, they could probably hook you up with people that do!