The wheel spins swiftly as skilled hands shape the clay. Taller and shorter, wider and thinner, the pot evolves constantly. Mesmerizing, the wheel spins faster as junior Soren Call shapes a beautiful piece of art.

“Being on the wheel is by far the most fun and gratifying thing we do in ceramics,” Call said. “I wish I could have more time on it.”

Ceramics teacher Katherine Beckner created a DonorsChoose campaign to raise money to buy another pottery wheel for her students.

“DonorsChoose is a platform for people to donate to a specific project for a teacher,” Beckner said.

Beckner said she wants more wheels for her students so more of them can work on a wheel at a time.

“My intention is to provide a quality curriculum and a quality experience for all of my students,” Beckner said. “That is why I started this campaign.”

Beckner said that her eventual goa

l is to get ten pottery wheels. Right now, the classroom has four.

“Based on surveys I did last year, more students wanted time on the wheel,” Beckner said.

Call said that in a classroom of 30 students it can be hard to get a good amount of time on the wheel.

While it is important for all ceramics students to get enough time on the wheel, for some it is imperative to have access to adequate materials for their AP portfolio.

“We offer AP 3D Design here at PHS,” Beckner said. “Instead of a test, you make a portfolio, so having access to wheels is especially important for those students.”

AP 3D Design student and senior Sara Zimmerman said she does not think that getting more wheels is as important as getting other materials.

“Not that many people want to try the wheel because you have to fail so many times before it works,” Zimmerman said.

Zimmerman said that having more glazes in the class would be a huge help for her projects.

“Right now there aren’t that many glazes, so kids just slap on random glazes and it doesn’t look good,” Zimmerman said.

Of the $1,640 goal for one wheel, Beckner’s campaign has raised $1,053, so only $587 more is needed.

Beckner said she was inspired by one of her daughter’s teachers, who started a DonorsChoose campaign to get scholastics for her students.

“The title of my DonorsChoose is the Great Pottery Throwdown, which is in reference to the BBC reality series of ceramic competitions,” Beckner said.

The show asks the ceramic artists to do challenges, and Beckner said this is in part what she does for her students.

“I give students challenges, like everyone making a cylinder by the end of the semester,” Beckner said.

“Ceramics class is not just a class, but a home,” Beckner said on her DonorsChoose campaign. “My students are high academic achievers and ceramics is a place to stretch and explore their creativity while getting their hands dirty.”