Elias Decker has been the Wrangell High School pep band drummer for four years. The drums were set up behind the bleachers when the band would play at rallies or games. Decker is building a platform so that future drummers will be in front and up with the rest of the band for all to see.
Senior Elias Decker has played drums all four years of high school. The drum kit has been kept behind the bleachers all that time, so he decided to build a platform for his graduation project.
Elias Decker wants to elevate the stature of the pep band drummer - literally.
For his high school graduation project, the 18-year-old senior is building a platform to allow the band's drummer to play alongside the saxes, clarinet and cowbell.
The idea for the platform came to Decker when he attended basketball regionals in Juneau in March. Two drum platforms were set up at opposite ends of the bleachers in the Thunder Mountain High School gym so that bands from competing schools could take turns playing.
"The band director there ... he gave me dimensions for the whole thing, and they have very similar bleachers to us," Decker said. "I noticed most gyms around Southeast have these platforms and we don't. We always hide our drums behind the bleachers in the corner."
Music teacher Tasha Morse said she believes it is the first time that she knows of that the Wrangell pep band will have a drum platform. "When I was in high school, we had a drum stand, and it was nice to have our drummer in the stands with us, more a part of the group," she said. "We got to use one when we were at (regionals) this year."
Dimensions for the platform are about six-feet by 10-feet. It will be two pieces that are bolted together when in use, and easily taken apart for storage, Decker said. He will take the experience and knowledge he's learned from being in shop class since seventh grade to build the project.
Though most of his shop experience has been in welding and marine fabrication, Decker is confident in his ability to get the job done.
"I haven't done a ton of woodworking. I've been doing mostly welding and stuff like that," he said. "I'm sure it's not that hard. It's a pretty simple project."
He estimates it will take him longer than the four hours it took the band director at Thunder Mountain, but if he has questions, he said he will seek guidance from shop teacher Winston Davies.
Originally, Decker was going to work with classmate Brodie Gardner on the cleaning and restoration of the Chief Shakes gravesite, but the drum platform "fits me way better," he said. "I've been the drummer for four years and it's kind of something I can leave behind. Cooper Powers is in eighth grade, and we've been kind of training him this year to be the next pep band drummer, so he'll be up there on the platform, hopefully."
After graduating, Decker said he's not really sure what direction he'll take but he's considering following in the footsteps of his father Glen Decker to become a certified arborist.
"I just like the field. It can be a fun job. It's decent pay," he said. "If you go anywhere, somebody needs to cut down a tree. It's more specific than logging and stuff. You need to be able to do precise removals and stuff. There's some science to it. If you have the knowledge, you can do a lot with it."
He's been a groundman for his father since he was 14, but Decker might also move to the beat of his own drum. "I'm always interested in other stuff, but that's one of the main things."
There isn't anything he won't miss about high school, but he will miss one thing in particular: Sports.
"I'll definitely miss sports, that's a big one," Decker said. "I sometimes wish I could stay back a year and do another year because I think I'd be even better."
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