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With sawdust flying, saws buzzing and hammers pounding, it was a frenetic morning in the Industrial Materials Lab at Brent Industries.

Everyone in the company was pitching in to ensure that the 60 entry tables they were manufacturing would be finished in time for Mother's Day.

No worries, said President Lauren Burdelsky.

"Everything's going great so far," she said while wiping her brow after taking a break. "We have a wonderful team and they're all working hard today."

Robert Colligan agreed as he surveyed the workers from his back office. "It's been going extremely well. They haven't just been sitting around. They've really been working."

That's a relief to the parents of Brent's 20 employees, who happen to be Brentwood High School seniors taking Colligan's Industrial Materials III course.

Each year for the past 11 years, students taking Colligan's class have been divided by an organizational team chart in the following departments: finance, personnel, quality control, marketing, and engineering. Each student holds a specific position within Brent Industries.

They rotate their duties, and follow an established job description. Colligan matches up the students' strengths with a particular position.

"This gives the students an opportunity to use everything they learned in their education to date," he said. "I just provide a venue to utilize their skills, which gives them all a place in society."

The students have decided to keep the name Brent Industries, coined in Colligan's first course. The only thing that changes from year to year is the mock corporation's logo.

"It's a fun class," said Evan Hirsh, who was selected to be one of the marketing managers and product engineer. "I enjoy this more than my gym class. It's been challenging, but I've learned a lot."

"It's incredible to have real work-like experience while still in high school," Burdelsky said.

That's what Colligan envisioned when he crafted the popular elective course to allow students to experience the world of mass production and manufacturing.

"I wanted to challenge my students with the processes of operating a successful corporation," he said. "Within the framework of that type of curriculum, I would require them to draw on their whole educational experience to take a concept idea to the marketplace."

More importantly, he wanted his students to understand that it takes a total team effort to produce an outcome.

The students spend only three days building their product in the Industrial Materials Lab in the basement of the high school. The early part of the semester is spent on planning and designing.

Product engineer Joe Binder said the planning process was the most difficult part of the course. "You spend two to three months on just planning," he said. "The building part is the easiest."

The students themselves select the product, finance production and handle sales. In previous years, students have made rocking horses, corner cabinets, grandfather clocks, table sets and dart boards.

This year's selection was entry tables, available in six colors to students, teachers, administrators and others with connections to the high school. The price is $55 -- or 100 shares in the corporation, costing 55 cents each.

Very little profit is made, Colligan said, and proceeds cover expenses. This year, 35 tables were ordered; each of the students will get one, and one will go to the high school library for a fund-raiser.

Superintendent Anne Stephens ordered an unfinished entry table. "My dad works in the wood industry, and thought they looked great," she said.

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