Students at Back Bay High School design their futures at campus Spyder

Although the bell rang Wednesday morning at Back Bay High School marking the close of the second half of school, not a single student in classroom 1A moved one inch. They chose to keep working and continue to learn.

The machines hummed and the lasers were used to cut wood. Another station had designs printed on paper and fabric. For help, students reached out to each other and mentor Jason Kovac. From the sidelines, district staff witnessed the activities taking place in Back Bay’s own Spyder Lab, which was two years in the planning.

Spyder Lab, a school that is work-based, allows students to learn skills in graphic media and entrepreneurship. Brea is the consultant’s home and maintains labs at schools throughout Orange County. The Spyder Lab in Back Bay, however, is the only one with this caliber within the Newport-Mesa Unified Schools District.

“This program itself is training students in a one-year period of time to run a business and be certified in all of the machinery in this room. They’re building an amazing portfolio to go into the industry; whether they’re getting certified in QuickBooks — they’re going to learn how to operate an actual business— but it’s also all these pieces of machinery,” career technical education program analyst Anne Younglove said.

Davian Gonzalez, 17, top left, and Christian Martinez, 17, top right, use an eco-solvent printing and cutting machine to create ‘Proud supporter of BBHS Spyder Lab’ stickers during an open house on Wednesday of the new Spyder Lab at Back Bay High School.

(Kevin Chang / Staff Photographer)

The plans for the campus Spyder Lab, worth $200,000 were originally made in 2020 but were temporarily halted by the pandemic. Construction of the lab took place over the summer with the final installation taking place in September. According to officials from district offices, about 80% of the funding came from state career technical education grants. The remainder was provided by the school district.

“It has been our goal for many years to bring a pathway back to this school. They had one eight years ago and this worked out very well because it’s a one-year pathway and the students are taking two courses every quarter and they’re side-by-side,” said Younglove. “So, they’re really in this classroom for about two hours a day, five days a week.”

Younglove stated that she was first introduced to Spyder Labs by a presentation at the Orange County Department of Education.

“I thought, ‘With grant money, this is completely possible to do anywhere.’ But the one place where we really need it most is the place where students need to get work as soon as possible and also get credit,” said Younglove. “So, what’s great about this is that the things they’re learning in here they can continue on into community college and go into any of the graphics things. They’re learning all the Adobe applications, so there’s lot of diversification. They can go into digital media, business, graphic design, … the clothing industry, which is huge here.”

A student prepares ‘Proud supporter of BBHS Spyder Lab’ stickers during a staff open house of the new Spyder Lab at Back Bay High School.

(Kevin Chang / Staff Photographer)

Spyder Lab walls are decorated with products designed by and printed in class. According to Back Bay senior Davian Gonzal, the students created blue hexagonal wall covers using the machine.

Gonzalez, 17 years old, said he is from Newport Harbor High School. He said he wasn’t doing well in school and ended up coming to Back Bay, where he felt “relief” and was able to find time to work on himself.

He said the class is challenging and requires work, but that he’s really enjoyed learning about a trade that he could do straight out of high school. His goal was to be able to use the same machines in a job.

Students learn how to run a business and are divided into five roles. On each project, students are required to be either general managers, office managers, sales representatives, production managers, creative directors, and/or office manager.

Lindsey Sanchez, 17, prints a “Merry Christmas” graphic design on a tote bag as a gift for a friend during a staff open house of the new Spyder Lab at Back Bay High School.

(Kevin Chang / Staff Photographer)

“This showed me there’s a business type to this because we do make this stuff. You get to experience the business, production, and marketing. [We learn] How much it costs and what to do if things go wrong. That’s basically something that I like and I think a lot of students will like too,” said Gonzalez.

Back Bay senior Lindsey Sanchez said she wasn’t sure about the class at first. She said she didn’t think any of the knowledge she’d acquire would be useful, but her interest really took off once she learned clothing and other products could be made in the Spyder Lab.

Sanchez began with the direct-to garment printer. She is now learning how to use the laser cutter. She said she recently visited an artists’ market and saw wooden music boxes on sale. Sanchez explained that Sanchez was able to make identical products, and then sell them.

Sanchez stated that she would like to return to the machine after graduating this year, to mentor future students.

“I want to show other students how you work the machines, what you know from the machines … it’s not bad to ask for help. You always can ask for help and that’s what I like about [the staff mentors],” said Sanchez.

At a Back Bay High School staff open house, a student printed a T-shirt with a direct-to-garment printer.

(Kevin Chang / Staff Photographer)

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