CHESHIRE — Hoosac Valley High School's timber framing class is often commissioned to build structures for buyers from New England, and as far away as Ohio.

This semester, Blair Mahar’s advanced timber framing class is working on a project that is closer to home: a pavilion near the school's athletic fields with picnic tables and a whiteboard, which will also serve as an outdoor classroom.

In the timber framing workshop, diagrams for Hoosac Valley’s new outdoor classroom are displayed on the walls for students as they cut and carve each of the beams by hand that will build the structure.

Timber framing has been offered at Hoosac Valley since 2012, when the school was remodeled. It's held in the old welding room — the hoods are still intact — now plastered with color photos of projects students have finished.

It's a popular class, with 80 students vying for a total of 36 seats in four sections. Timber framing is the only shop class offered at Hoosac Valley so as not to compete with McCann Technical School, according to school officials.

Mahar, who teaches biology and timber framing at Hoosac Valley, taught himself the craft by reading master timber framer, instructor and architect Jack Sobon's 1984 book, “Timber Frame Construction: All About Post-and-Beam Building.”

Sobon, a 1973 Hoosac Valley graduate, occasionally makes guest appearances, most recently to teach students how to sharpen tools. He also drafted the blueprints for the pavilion.

Mahar referred to Sobon as a GOAT of timber framing — the “greatest of all time.”

In the timber framing workshop at Hoosac Valley Regional High School, finished beams for the school’s new outdoor classroom are stacked by students as they cut and carve each of the beams by hand that will build the structure.

“Jack is the most well-known timber framer in North America,” said Mahar, a 1987 Hoosac Valley graduate. “Without Jack’s help, I’m not sure this would be possible.”

While the project will not be complete until next spring, the school held a groundbreaking on Wednesday afternoon for students. The ceremonial event was complete with five shiny new shovels and a mound of dirt to show the project is underway. The 24-by-32-foot pavilion will have a red roof.

Past and present students of the popular shop class were there to inspect the work and pay homage to a program that built many careers.

Matt Tassone, a 2022 graduate who owns his own timber framing business, said everything he knows comes from his experience at Hoosac Valley. He will be back in a year with a crane to help raise the pavilion, he said.

Also on hand was Sobon.

“It’s my alma mater,” he said. “I’m really proud of what Blair has done with these kids. I think it’s given a lot of people purpose and maybe a career or two out of it.”

Mahar said the idea for the outdoor classroom came from Hoosac Valley Principal Colleen Byrd after the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for outdoor learning spaces.

He said the pavilion will have many uses, such as a place for athletes to stash their bags, for people to eat at halftime and for seniors to have their class banquet.

Blair Mahar, the teacher of the Hoosac Valley Regional High School timber framing class, speaks at the groundbreaking for the school’s new outdoor classroom which is being built by hand by the students in his classroom.

“It’s going to be a great place for our community and our school,” he said. “I’m looking forward to this thing going up."

A $20,000 grant from the Berkshire Taconic Foundation, along with a $10,000 donation from Specialty Minerals in Adams, helped buy materials and tools for the project.

Dan Sadler, regional mining engineer at Specialty Minerals, praised the students' efforts.

“I hope you guys get a great amount of experience from this project and what you’re learning in this classroom,” Sadler said.

For students in the advanced class, the pavilion is also a chance to test the skills they’ve built over time.

Anna Thurston, left, and Richard Colon show off their completed work on timber framing beams that will become Hoosac Valley’s new outdoor classroom in Cheshire.

As the only sophomore in advanced timber framing, Ben Cachat sees himself as an underdog among his peers in the class.

“I took the normal class in the fall,” he said. “At first I wasn’t that into it as there wasn’t much to do as we were all learning, taking it slow.”

But gradually his experience changed.

“I have had so much fun doing it,” he said. “I like laying out things.”

In the classroom, power tools, calculators and cell phones are not allowed. The students do their calculations by hand and draw them directly onto the wood. They even drill by hand.

“When I walk into my advanced class, and the kids are already working, they already have their tools out, I just become kind of irrelevant,” Mahar said. “That’s a testament to them and their intelligence and their hard work.”

For senior Cash Kolodziej, the appeal is in the sense of pride that comes with the work.

“It feels like a good accomplishment once you finish your work,” he said. “It just makes you feel better. I don’t really know how to describe it. It just makes you feel complete.”