Photos courtesy of Kimberly Bridgewater.
HHS special education teacher Kimberly Bridgewater heads the Personalized Patriot program at the high school, teaching special education students how to use a laser engraver and create custom products.
In a classroom buzzing with creativity and precision, Homewood High School students aren’t just engraving designs onto wood and metal — they’re carving out essential life skills.
Through the Personalized Patriot Program, one of the school’s student-run enterprises, students are mastering problem-solving, teamwork and business skills while transforming raw materials into custom-made works of art.
Launched this year, the program gives students hands-on experience with laser engraving technology to create personalized products for the community. More than just an artistic endeavor, it’s a stepping stone for students working toward job readiness.
“It’s basically for kids who are on a diploma called the essential diploma, where they earn a kind of school-to-work type experience,” said program lead and HHS special education teacher Kimberly Bridgewater. “Because every week we take them out to work at a different location — and then this past week, we took them to mock interviews. We do a lot of things with these students because they’re typically not going to college. They can go to college, but they’re typically not on the college path, and so they’re going toward job- or trade-related skills.”
Bridgewater launched the program in October after securing a $6,000 grant from the Homewood City Schools Foundation to purchase the school’s first laser engraving machine. The program is open to all special education students, with six currently enrolled.
“It’s been a big learning curve, because first we had to learn how to manipulate the software,” Bridgewater said. “It was kind of to my advantage, because I’m a crafter, and I have used Cricut machines before, and the software is kind of basically the same as that. The hardest thing for us has been learning the amount of laser pressure and the amount of burn — to cut through wood, to cut, to lay, to engrave, to score something.”
Photos courtesy of Kimberly Bridgewater.
A view of some of the products up close.
Despite the steep learning process, students quickly began producing a variety of items. Their first project was a set of charcuterie boards made as holiday gifts for Homewood school nurses. They later attempted ornaments, though they weren’t completed in time for Christmas.
Now, their creations range from wooden cutouts and engraved acrylic and metal pieces to bookmarks, dog tags and even golf ball markers for the LPGA Amateur Golf Association and the UAB women’s golf team.
Community members can also place custom orders or bring in personal items for engraving by contacting Bridgewater at kbridgewater@homewood.k12.al.us.
We do a number of things called transition assessments that help pinpoint our kids’ abilities. It helps pinpoint kind of what their interest with careers would be.
Kimberly Bridgewater
Currently, students are working on an order for Alabama Goods, designing custom Homewood and Hoover keychains that will soon be available in stores. Proceeds go directly back into the school’s special education department, helping fund resources like career assessments.
“I’m what they call a transition teacher here, so my responsibility is to help kids either get to college if that’s what they want to do, or get to work if that’s what they want to do,” Bridgewater said. “We do a number of things called transition assessments that help pinpoint our kids’ abilities. It helps pinpoint kind of what their interest with careers would be, and those protocols and those assessments are not cheap, so we’re using that to fund the purchase of those things.”
Looking ahead, Bridgewater hopes to expand the program by securing grants for an apparel printer and a banner-making machine — tools that would allow students to create even more products for the Homewood school system while gaining valuable hands-on experience.
