In the spring of 2018, I began the first of many years of delightful collaboration with Highland Middle School (Blackhawk School District, Beaver County) art teacher Leslie Kunkel. Ms. Kunkel had been partnering with Pittsburgh Center for Arts & Media and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts since 2003-2004, so she was already extremely comfortable with and excited for hosting teaching artists in her classroom. The HMS community had great successes with their previous visiting artists, puppet maker Cheryl Capezzuti, ceramicist Becky Keck, and interdisciplinary artist Tom Sarver, so I certainly felt I had some big metaphorical shoes to fill, but also a great working thesis of combining elements and principals of design with novel processes and materials. Tom Sarver had been bringing in tools and scrap wood and cardboard to create installations, so it was also a big help that Ms. Kunkel already had a sense of trust for both me and the students to be safe with potentially dangerous materials!