There's no pen and paper in this class. Instead, you find grinding wheels, drill presses, and metal bending machines.
Bill Lemme and his Arvin High School students meet every other day for two hours. They've enrolled in a three-year manufacturing program, starting in their sophomore year.
"First time I was blown away. I was speechless knowing we have brand new machines," said Richard Navarro, manufacturing student.
On Wednesday, students made tool bits for machinery that will eventually help them build pieces for a chess game.
"I think that I was one of those kids that if I wasn't in shop class I probably wouldn't have shown up to school," said Lemme.
Lemme has taught his students to set their sights high and these high schoolers are career focused.
"I plan on going to the military and get an engineer job there," said Ernesto Jaimes, manufacturing student.
"These guys also gain a lot of self confidence in here, and I have a lot of students realizing they could go on to college, go into more of a manufacturing area, study more engineering, so they also start to find their place a little better too," added Lemme.
Many students we talked with say this class has helped them commit to a higher education, a commitment many may not have made before setting foot in this shop of dreams.
"I want to go to Cal Poly, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, it'd be cool to go there, engineering," said Navarro.
Because of the impact this class is having on students at Arvin High, it has been recognized this year as the best manufacturing program in the state.
"To be said that you're the best in state, it's a lot to live up to," said Lemme.
"I'm from a low income school, but our shop and motivation to be successful in life, it goes far," said Navarro.
If you were wondering how much all the equipment in that classroom cost, it's about $1.5 million. It was paid for by a ballot measure passed in 2009 for technical career education.
