Students in Brandon Rymer’s eighth-grade technology class at St. Therese Catholic School in Northeast Portland were hard at work on a Thursday afternoon late last month.

They’d already designed a unique Christmas tree ornament, then laser-cut the wood they would use. The students were now brushing stain over the delicate design, gluing the individual pieces together, fastening velvet ribbons to the tops, then individually signing their names on the back of each decoration they completed.

They’re all destined for display, and sale, at one of the Portland area’s best-known holiday events — the Festival of Lights at The Grotto.

If you’re one of the thousands of visitors to The Grotto this holiday season, you may come across these small works of art, adorned with the silhouettes of the three wise men.

“Our school works really hard for this,” said student Baoky Han. “We spend most of our time in every tech class to do this for them. We put a lot of work into it.”

This is the first year the school is partnering with The Grotto. The tech class produced an initial batch of 50 specialty ornaments to sell at the festival for $16 a piece.

The money will contribute to the group’s ongoing fundraising efforts for the class, which help all students, including some who don’t have computers or tech-savvy parents at home. Right now, the class is working to replace their frequently used and now inoperable laser cutter.

These ornaments are just one example of the innovative projects in science, technology, engineering and math — also known as STEM — that St. Therese students have worked on.

St. Therese is a small, private K-8 school. Rymer is the technology teacher and also teaches eighth-grade U.S. history. But as he said, “I’m mostly known for the tech program.”

For three years, Rymer has introduced students at every grade level to new technologies, including software engineering, coding and website and video game design, all of which teach his students both technical and big-picture skills.

“It’s critical thinking, and it’s problem solving,” Rymer said, “but it also teaches them, in an educational area, that making mistakes is a good thing.”

Though the partnership with The Grotto is new, the school’s tech fair is not. The eighth graders lead it, but they showcase projects across all grades each year for the school.

In a recent class, one group of students was working on a version of the game Operation that they coded and made themselves. Others showcased jewelry they made for last year’s fair. One student was working on a tool that detects when a plant needs watering.

“I always tell the students, ‘Hey, I’m not going to be here forever, and as I get older, I need the next generation to be able to solve whatever problems are going on then,’” Rymer said.

Baoky Han showcased one of the projects he was proud of. He’d coded his own version of Guitar Hero, setting up the electric wiring needed to play on the customized, laser-cut guitar he designed.

The eighth grader said Rymer gave him the idea, but he did most of the coding with a friend.

“It was a hard project,” he said. “I needed a lot of inspiration, and at one point, I was questioning if I should quit. But I went through with it, since my friend wanted to do it. We figured it out.”

Han doesn’t play Guitar Hero at home or play the guitar in general. “I wish,” he laughed.

But sharing the final product at the tech fair last year was a high point for him. A lot of people said it was really good, he said, which has excited him to do more projects since, such as trying to make longer-duration games.

“This class has inspired me (to) be an engineer when I grow up. So, this would be a great start for me,” he said. “I was thinking about mechanical or electrical engineering.”

Han said Rymer is a big part of that. He’s always there for the students, Han said, and “just knowing that he’s my teacher helps me go through it and want to learn more.”

Rymer sees technology as something that can roll over into several other subjects, too. For example, he’s worked with students on faith-based projects using technology, given the school’s religious foundation.

His students previously produced laser-cut images of scenes from biblical stories. They then paired the products with QR codes for a digital art show. Viewers could scan the link and hear a student’s recorded telling of that story. The Grotto is the most recent example of that kind of crossover.

“I think The Grotto is a great example of how technology can scratch itches outside of science and math,” Rymer said.

The teacher said his technology classes have shown students that their hard work can lead to future opportunities.

“Being able to solve problems and organize the steps of what you’re trying to do is important, even if you don’t want to be a coder or be a hardware or software engineer,” he tells his students.

But the big thing Rymer wants them to know? He said, “Just that I’m proud of them.”

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/12/08/portland-students-tree-ornaments-grotto/