When people think of the hardest class at Mt. Carmel, one of the first classes to come to mind is Mechanics. That class recently took a short break from its rigorous schedule to engineer something important yet seemingly simple. However, appearances can be deceptive, and what apparently should have been a quick endeavor turned out to be a time-consuming and difficult project. 

What project was that? Building an Eiffel Tower out of cardboard. 

The Mother’s Club Fashion Show was themed around Paris this year, and it was only natural to want to have Paris’s most famous landmark present to really set the scene. However, that was much easier said than done. 

In order to construct the cardboard replica, the Mechanics class took a whole week off of learning integrals and inertia to complete this important project. The tower was assembled with cardboard, hot glue, and tape, and it took five full class periods plus a lunch period to finish assembling the sections of the model. The tower could not be fully assembled at Mt. Carmel since it was twelve feet wide and seventeen feet high, and the fashion show was being held in Palos Hills. So the Mechanics class divided into teams and assembled the different sections to be transported. 

Senior Billy McHugh was in charge of the team responsible for assembling the top two sections. 

“It was really fun to mix it up,” said McHugh. “It was definitely the highlight of my week.”

While many of the seniors enjoyed the process, some were disgruntled by the changes in their regular schedule.

Dan Walsh is a senior who helped to hot glue and assemble the base section. 

“It was annoying to have to do,” said Walsh. “I wish we could have just kept going with the unit we were doing.” 

Walsh’s frustrations were only exacerbated by the fact that the Mothers’ Club wound up not even using the full tower due to how complicated it was to put all of the sections together. The two lower base sections were left off, leaving the tower to stand at a meager eight feet instead of the grandiose seventeen that it was designed for.

“I feel like they just wasted our time building it and then they didn’t even use the full tower,” said Walsh when asked about whether he thought it was worth building. 

However, most of the seniors viewed it as a positive experience and said that they enjoyed building the tower.

“It was nice to have a break, especially since some people are starting to get senioritis,” said Jacob White, a senior. “Since we started our day with something a little more fun, it definitely helped me to stay focused the rest of the day.” 

Mr. Caribee Collier, the teacher of the Mechanics class, had a mixed attitude about the construction project taking a whole week of class.

“On the one hand, it was good to do something helpful for the Mothers Club,” he said. “On the other hand, we wasted a week of class, but since we only have one student taking the AP test, it’s not the end of the world.”