HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — A side hobby turned into a labor of love for one Hillsborough County educator.

Stephany Federico is a third-grade teacher at Thonotosassa Elementary School, as well as a woodworking extraordinaire.

When COVID-19 hit, her classroom transitioned into eLearning.

She is still teaching online this school year, and she’s noticed that several of her students are having a tough time focusing due to a lack of a dedicated workspace.

That’s when it clicked.

“I love to do woodworking and I just said, ‘I can make them a desk!’” Federico said.

Over the past month, she’s built 15 wooden desks and counting. Each one takes about three hours to make.

The first batch of desks was handed out to students in the middle of April.

“They were so ecstatic and that filled my heart. But they asked me, ‘Ms. Federico, when do we have to give the desks back?’ And I said, ‘Honey, look under the desk,’” she recalled. “Each desk, I wrote their name and I put my name and put a heart and I put my name and the year. Some of them cried and I got lots of hugs.”

Federico says she learned woodworking from her grandfather, and just like he passed on that skill to her, she hopes her kids will pass these desks along someday.

“Even though if we don’t have eLearning anymore, they’re going to be able to use these desks at home for years to come, and hopefully one day they’ll pass them on to their children,” she said.

It’s a gift she hopes will stand the test of time, and remind them of how they got through the pandemic together.