A new office space for Ferndale High School requires some new decorations. Now, instead of a blank wall, a massive wooden calendar created by an FHS student and teacher will greet students and families as they walk into the front office.

“I’m so happy with how it turned out,” said senior Jordan Mason, who built the calendar with help from Advanced Design and Construction teacher Drew Sampson. “It feels pretty amazing to know I’m leaving something behind that’s going to help people.”

The ornate wooden structure, called the “perpetual calendar,” features a massive carving of the FHS Golden Eagle in the center with four rings around it. The four rings rotate each day to display the date (one ring has the date, another the day of the week, and a third, the month), as well as whether it is a Blue or Gold day at FHS. The text for the four rings uses FHS’ official font, and they are painted in a shade of navy blue identical to the school’s official color.

Sampson said the calendar was inspired by an old design that a previous student thought up years ago. When administrative assistant Dianne Gillespie asked if a student could come up with a calendar for the front office wall, he updated that design and Mason came on board.

Gillespie said she loves her new wall decoration near her front office desk.

“We’re super grateful that they made this for us,” she said. “They took my little plan and made it a giant, awesome piece of art.”

The wood used to build the calendar came from the rafters of Old Main.

This elaborate calendar took months to build, Mason said.

“With all the things that we had to cut out and glue together, the staining and painting and all that – it probably took close to the whole semester, with a few days to spare,” he said.

Mason said the most difficult part was carefully painting the numbers and letters throughout the structure.

“It’s a really small area, so you need to use a small brush, and it takes quite a while,” he said.

Sampson, who has taught at FHS for 21 years, said he was incredibly impressed by Mason’s work on the calendar.

“It’s definitely the biggest thing that one of my students has worked on,” he said.

Mason, who graduated from FHS this month, plans to enter the workforce. He hopes to start a career in construction.