yeah but OP said 'high school lab'... which granted may be true in the US but certainly not what I'd call 'common' or even 'rare' where I live. a good description would be 'completely unheard of'.

>which granted may be true in the US

I'm a graduate of the public school system in the US in a state that is not in the top 10-15 for education - my high school had a pretty impressive furnace. I'm too far removed to remember what it's maximum temperature was but I wouldn't be surprised if it was 1000C+

I guess you'd head to the art department and use the ceramic kiln, instead.