Mt. Pleasant Area school showcase to feature virtual view of closed glass plant

Visitors to an event Monday at Mt. Pleasant Area Junior-Senior High will gain a multi-faceted perspective on a mainstay of the community’s once-thriving glass industry.

District students and staff, local historians and a technology consultant have combined efforts for a community showcase focusing on the former L.E. Smith Glass factory.

Drawing upon resources from the community, including the Mt. Pleasant Area Historical Society, the students researched the glass plant’s history. A high school class visited the facility, gaining insights from some former workers there.

The 6 p.m. showcase will highlight several resulting student projects.

Attendees will learn from fifth graders about the glass-blowing process and how the students created glass mosaics. Brochures about the glass factory created by eighth graders and an article penned by district journalism students will be on view.

Students in an Advanced Placement English class created a documentary about the district project that features interviews with L.E. Smith workers.

The school event will begin with a project overview in the auditorium, followed by displays in the school rotunda.

A major attraction will be a three-dimensional virtual tour showing how the factory looked when it regularly was turning out glassware.

“The students worked to digitize a structure with historical value in our community,” said Beth Hutson, assistant superintendent at the district. “At the (Mt. Pleasant Glass and Ethnic Festival) in September, the community got to vote on what structure the kids would recreate in 3-D virtual reality, and they chose the L.E. Smith Glass factory.

“Mt. Pleasant has such a rich history of glass production.”

Mt. Pleasant Area is one of several area districts that are working on “Portals” projects with Pittsburgh-based consultant Case Technologies. The company has completed laser scanning and computer modeling of historic structures, including the glass plant.

Based on images of the glass plant from between the 1950s and the 1970s — and using software originally intended for development of video games — students in Mt. Pleasant Area instructor Gary Gray’s senior high game design course have been working to create the virtual plant tour.

The process began with an October scanning session and visit by the students at the former plant. They were able to take samples from a leftover stock of glassware to serve as an additional reference point.

“We’re trying to make a virtual recreation of the plant, including some artifacts, to show people what happened there and how they made the glass,” said Gray. “Some of the original structure isn’t there, so we couldn’t recreate it 100%.”

“We use scanning technology to create a very accurate representation of a building so it can be preserved for all time digitally,” said Mark Dietrick, director of services for Case Technologies. “We can also produce a 3-D digital model that can be used to reconstruct what the building looked like at a certain point in time.”

The company’s Portals curriculum is intended to enhance STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics) instruction at participating school districts — also including Brownsville Area, Albert Gallatin Area, Carmichaels Area and Jefferson-Morgan.

“The students can use their creativity,” said Dietrick. “We didn‘t give them a specific end goal. We wanted them to discover that on their own.

“We like to think of it as kind of a two-way portal. It provides the students an understanding of the rich history of their community and a connection to their heritage.

“It’s also a portal to the future, where they’re learning cutting-edge technological skills that are going to be really important to workforce development for their future.”

Completion of the Portals project is a step toward revamping Mt. Pleasant Area’s game design elective as a course in 3-D visualization technology, Gray said.

Refreshments at Monday’s event will include punch made with a recipe that was a favorite among the past L.E. Smith staff, served from glass bowls that were produced at the plant.

While supplies last, attendees can take home a souvenir L.E. Smith mug.