Orange Beach students operate graphic design business

By Melanie LeCroy / melanie@gulfcoastmedia.com
Posted 12/8/21

Deep within the maze of halls at Orange Beach High School you will find the Isurus Graphics studio. The large room contains workstations and giant machines students use to operate a full-scale …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Subscribe to continue reading. Already a subscriber? Sign in

Get the gift of local news. All subscriptions 50% off for a limited time!

You can cancel anytime.
 

Please log in to continue

Log in

Orange Beach students operate graphic design business

Posted

Deep within the maze of halls at Orange Beach High School you will find the Isurus Graphics studio. The large room contains workstations and giant machines students use to operate a full-scale graphics business. Under the watchful eye of teacher Michael McCrady, the students have created and installed several projects around the school and been paid for their work.

This isn’t the first graphic design program McCrady has created. After retiring from the military with a background in computers, McCrady’s wife encouraged him to become a teacher. But after his first semester teaching at Robertsdale High School, he was bored.

“I figured if I was bored my kids were bored. I came in one Monday morning and there was a big box sitting on the table in my old lab. It happened to be an old 24-inch vinyl cutter. I told the students to take it and put it together and see what they could figure out. Within about 24 minutes they had it up, loaded and printing. They cut out the first Robertsdale R,” McCrady said.

The principal told McCrady she found the machine in a closet and thought he could figure out what to do with it. She was so impressed with the students’ work, she asked if they could make more Robertsdale R’s the school could sell for $3 apiece. She also committed to giving him $10,000 to buy new equipment so he could start a business with the students. That was the start of 206 Graphics which is still in operation today.

Now, 16 years later, McCrady is in his first year at Orange Beach High School and has a waiting list for all his classes. Students can take Multimedia Design and learn Photoshop and Illustrator. Many students can earn certifications in the programs.

“Everything they learn goes into the final class of Career Tech Lab. It’s called Live Work. It gives them the opportunity to learn a business from start to finish. They learn to sweep the floors, design, print, cut graphics, install order supplies and how to deal with a boss which is their teacher,” McCrady said.

The students recently completed a $4,500 job for the high school gym and foyer. They created a 52-inch by 29-foot long Mako Nation graphic and installed it across the back of the gym. They also did some graphics for the foyer. The money is then invested into the program and used to buy supplies and equipment.

McCrady said the students have been complaining about the wired mouse on the iMac computers in the computer lab. Soon, they will have the money to buy all wireless mouse and hope to buy wireless drawing pads in the near future.

Currently the students’ jobs have been limited to school projects such as interior graphics and yard signs, but McCrady said they have plans to open to the public.

“We are not opening it up to the public until January 2022, but it will be on a limited basis and geared toward the schools, PTO, nonprofits and churches.